Luvenum Eximius Bellator: Young Superhero
by bouncingblondeferret
Summary: Klaine AU: Badboy!Blaine is Tony Stark's son and moves to Lima with his mother. Everyone can tell the new kid's hiding something but no one was expecting this...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"But Dad, can't I just live in New York with you? Or move to LA with Cooper?" Blaine had been nagging his father he whole car trip. "Lima is the most boring place in America!"

"Which is exactly why you'll be safer here," Tony Stark looked into his son's eyes in the passenger seat beside him. "Your Grandmother is sick and your mother wants to spend more time with her, so you're staying in Ohio with them." Blaine sighed and dropped his father's gaze. "Plus, I'm not the best Dad and I think spending some time with your mother and grandmother will do you some good." Tony eyed his son's lip and eyebrow piercings warily.

Blaine sighed and slouched against his seat, "Fine, whatever."

Tony rolled his eyes at his son as they pulled up at William McKinley High School. "Get out and have fun, Blaine. Make some friends and I'll see you in a few weeks."

Blaine groaned and opened the door, attracting plenty of attention for what Blaine could guess would be many reasons. Firstly, he was the new kid and judging by what he'd seen so far of Lima, they didn't get too many of them. Next was probably the fact that he's just stepped out of a very expensive looking sports car; and lastly was the fact that he seemed to stick out like a sore thumb at McKinley. He saw jocks, cheerleaders, nerds, and everything in between but he still seemed to stick out. He chewed on his lip piercing and went to the locker he'd been assigned.

Whispers of gossip had followed Blaine from the moment he stepped out of his father's car and it wasn't long before Kurt Hummel heard this morning's gossip. Mercedes had greeted him that morning with a hug and a "have you seen the new kid?" Kurt hadn't seen the new kid yet, but he'd heard almost everyone he passed talking about him.

"He's gorgeous, Kurt, you _have_ to see him," Mercedes insisted.

Kurt did see the new kid, finally, in his third period English class. Mr Smith introduced him to the class as Blaine Anderson and told him to take the only available seat, on Kurt's left, between him and Sam. The moment Blaine stepped through the door he understood why everyone had been talking about the new kid – he was _hot_. He wasn't very tall but his arms and chest looked muscular under his leather jacket and white t-shirt. He had dark, curly hair that was gelled slightly and his eyebrow and lip were pierced. From the clicking sound coming from Blaine's mouth when he sat down, Kurt supposed he had his tongue pierced too and was tapping it against his teeth. Kurt didn't normally like the bad boy type, but there was no escaping that Blaine was one of the hottest guys Kurt had ever laid his eyes on.

Sam started talking to Blaine once Mr Smith had set the day's work and everyone around them was listening intently for answers about who the new kid really was. "I'm Sam," he began.

"Blaine," he said flatly.

"Where are you from?" Sam asked the question on everyone's mind.

"I've lived a bit of everywhere: LA, Chicago… New York," Blaine pronounced the last city with obvious distaste. He decided he would answer some of people's questions, they'd find out one way or another and it was probably better if it came from him.

"From New York to Lima?" Sam asked, surprised. Blaine nodded uninterestedly. "Why? If you don't mind my asking."

"My Grandmother's sick and apparently its better if I live with my mother here, rather than my father in New York," Blaine said bitterly.

"Oh, cool," Sam said.

"I suppose," Blaine responded indifferently.

"Do you sing? We have a glee club here and it's really fun." Glee club was always looking for new talent and Sam didn't waste the opportunity to invite a new member. "Kurt's in it too." Blaine turned to his right and nodded at Kurt when Sam gestured to him. Kurt got a better look at Blaine and decided he was even hotter close up.

"Uh, yeah I kind of sing a bit," Blaine half-shrugged. "When do you meet?"

"The next meeting's tomorrow afternoon, you should come along," Sam encouraged.

"Maybe," Blaine nodded slightly and focused his attention on the work on his desk, ending the conversation and leaving a few answers but many more questions in the minds of those around him.

OoOoOoO

Blaine unlocked the door of his new house and dropped his keys on the table inside the entrance. The house was small but not tiny, just the right size for Blaine and his mother. He walked into the living room and saw the stack of boxes to unpack, groaned at them and went to the kitchen to find something to eat.

He sat staring at the boxes. The house was full of boxes. Blaine hated unpacking, it was his least favourite part about moving – starting a new school he could do without it bothering him, but he hated unpacking boxes.

His Mom was working late at the hospital where she nursed, so Blaine decided he should do some more unpacking to lighten her load. Even with a billionaire ex-husband, Meredith still felt obliged to work and pay for as much as she could herself.

Blaine went to what was now his bedroom and began unpacking his clothes. There wasn't much variety in his wardrobe, just a couple of leather jackets and hoodies, some shirts, jeans and a pair of converse. He was finished unpacking by the time his mother arrived home at 9 o'clock with take-away for dinner; they ate watching TV and making small talk.

"How was your first day at McKinley?" she asked.

"Fine," he shrugged.

"Did you make any friends?" Blaine looked up at her with a what-do-you-think look. Of course he hadn't made any friends, he didn't want any friends. "Did you talk to anyone who seemed nice?"

Blaine tried to do right by his mother, it wasn't her fault she had a screw-up as a son. "Yeah, I talked to a couple of guys – Sam and Kurt I think their names were –in English class."

"That's good," Meredith smiled tiredly.

"I started unpacking my room. I finished with my clothes and I've only got a few boxes left."

"Thanks honey." Meredith appreciated the little things Blaine did to try to make it easier for her. She knew he wasn't happy about moving to Lima, but the little slips of kindness and thoughtfulness that slipped through Blaine's surly attitude didn't go unnoticed by her. She saw those slips and it reminded her that Blaine was still her little boy, no matter how tough he tried to be on the outside.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Slight violence trigger warning for this chapter. Nothing serious, just a bit of push and shove.**

**Chapter 2**

Blaine heard the too-familiar sound of a body being shoved against a locker on his way to English on Tuesday. He winced slightly as he heard the sound again and turned the corner to see who the unfortunate victim was. Before him stood one of the most stereotypical scenes he'd seen: two football jocks beating up an obviously gay boy, the same boy he'd sat next to in English class the day before – Kurt, he thought his name was. Blaine held back the memories of all the times he'd been in Kurt's position and approached the boys.

"Ooh look it's the new kid," one of the jocks called.

"He looks angry," the other one said, and then turned to Blaine, "What's the matter newbie?"

Blaine rolled his eyes at the football players and said coolly, "What did Kurt do to you? Or are you just big enough assholes to beat him up for no reason?"

Kurt looked surprised that Blaine had remembered his name and the two jocks turned to Blaine looking menacingly.

"What are you going to do about? Huh, shrimp?" The first jock leered at him, referring to Blaine's lack of height.

The second jock stepped forward and so did Blaine, who wasn't easily intimidated. "The same thing I did to the other homophobes," Blaine said darkly.

The first jock shoved Blaine but he held his ground and shoved back, stronger than he appeared. Jock Number Two shoved Blaine harder and he retaliated with a right hook to the jaw. Jock Two looked shocked and Jock One threw a punch of his own but Blaine blocked it and threw more of his own, landing one on the jock's cheek and one in his stomach, winding him.

"They bother you often, Kurt?" Blaine turned to him while the jocks were still in shock.

Kurt nodded slowly, "Yeah, a bit. Why did you stick up for me? Most people just walk past."

"I've been the one against the locker and I didn't like it much, so thought I might as well help you," Blaine shrugged.

Unfortunately for Blaine, Mr Brewer had watched the whole ordeal from the other side of the hallway. "You four!" he shouted to Kurt, Blaine and the two jocks. "Principal's office. Now."

Great, Blaine thought, it was his second day and he'd already been sent to the Principal's office.

They followed Mr Brewer to Principle Figgins' office and sat down in the waiting area, Kurt and Blaine on one side, the two jocks staring angrily at them from the other.

Figgins spoke to them all individually, Blaine was last to talk to him.

"Now, I understand that this is your first offense but I will still have to call your parents to let them know, and I'm giving you a week's detentions starting from tomorrow." Kurt could hear Figgins talking to Blaine through the door. He knew he shouldn't be eavesdropping but it wasn't his fault the door wasn't very soundproof.

"Fine," Blaine sighed. "There'll be no-one home if you try to call today, though. Mom's working late and Dad's in New York." Kurt guessed that the reason Blaine had mentioned New York the day before with such contempt was his father.

"I will still have to call them both," Figgins said. "This is your first offense, but if this happened again we will have to discuss suspension."

OoOoOoO

Blaine sat down at a table during lunch with intentions of sitting by himself, but Kurt, the other boy from English, and a few other people sat down at his table.

"I heard you're interested in joining glee club," one girl began confidently, "I really hope you try out, we're always looking for more people to sing back up for me."

"Or maybe we'll find out you've got more talent than Berry and she'll send you to a crack house," one of the girls in a cheerleading uniform said mockingly.

Blaine looked down at his food, slightly overwhelmed by all the attention. "Yeah I was going to try out today."

"You absolutely should, I can't wait to hear you sing," the girl the cheerleader called Berry said enthusiastically.

"What happened with you Kurt and those two football players?" Sam asked.

"They were giving Kurt a hard time so I returned the favour," Blaine said simply.

"You gave one of them a black eye and he's like twice your size!" Sam looked amazed.

"I'm stronger than I look?" Blaine suggested. "How do you know so much about it anyway?"

"Everyone's been talking about it," a tall Asian boy explained. "No one's ever stuck up to them like that before."

"Well, it's about time someone did then," Blaine said darkly. "It's not fair when the gay guy's always getting beaten up. Sometimes things get taken too far if there's no one there to stop them."

Everyone at the table watched Blaine curiously as he clicked his tongue ring against his teeth and subtly touched his left ribs. He remembered that day things had been taken too far. His Dad was still in Afghanistan and he'd just come out as gay at school.

Blaine noticed all the eyes on him and snapped out of the memory. "So you're all in glee club then?" he asked, looking around at the people sitting with him. The conversation continued about glee but Blaine wasn't listening, he was still thinking about that day and didn't notice that Kurt's eyes hadn't left him.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Song used in this chapter is Black Mamba by The Academy Is… and can be found on youtube with **watch?v=wGiBENdkxs4 **if you want to give it a listen.**

**Chapter 3**

After Blaine's last class of the day he made his way warily to the choir room. He had always loved singing but had never really sang for anyone before. His mother and brother were the only people to hear him sing, but Blaine didn't really care enough anymore to be too nervous about it.

The people who sat with him at lunch and a few others were already in the choir room when Blaine entered and sat in the back row of chairs, watching the rest of the group bicker and laugh with each other.

The cheerleader from lunch pulled up a chair beside him and batted her eyelids at him. "Hey there Anderson," she began, flirtation dripping in her voice. "I'm Santana."

"Hey," he replied.

"Just letting you know that sticking up for Kurt was really hot, and if you ever want in on this booty you just need to ask," Santana got straight to her point.

"Not your team, honey," he smirked at her and raised an eyebrow challengingly.

"Why must all the hot guys be gay?" she sighed. This didn't seem to faze Santana who stood up to move to the row in front and said over her shoulder, "If you ever change your mind…"

"You'll be the first to know," he finished grinning.

Kurt entered the room and took the recently vacated seat beside Blaine. When Blaine showed no sign of acknowledgement that he was there Kurt spoke to him. "Thanks for sticking up for me today, Blaine."

"You're welcome, I suppose," Blaine mumbled.

"No one's ever done something like that before," Kurt sounded very enthusiastic in his thanks to Blaine. "You saved me from getting beat up again, thank you."

"Saving people must run in the family," Blaine said cryptically. Kurt looked at Blaine with his eyebrow raised confusedly. "Never mind, don't worry about it."

"Okay," Kurt looked at Blaine uncertainly. Kurt learnt a lot about Blaine that day, but mostly he found out there was a lot more he was hiding. "What are you singing for your audition?"

"Black Mamba by The Academy Is…" Blaine answered.

Kurt hadn't heard of it but that didn't surprise him, he didn't think Blaine would be the Top 40 or musical theatre kind of guy.

The teacher, someone called him Mr Shue, entered the room and spotted Blaine, interrupting their conversation. "Blaine Anderson is it?" Blaine nodded. "You're interested in joining glee club?"

"Yeah," Blaine responded.

"Great!" Mr Shue sounded very eager for a new member of glee. "Have you prepared an audition yet or do you need more time?"

"Nah, I have something ready."

"Then the floor is yours," Mr Shue gestured towards the front of the room. Everyone else was seated and watching him as he picked up an acoustic guitar and started playing.

The faces looking at him had friendly expressions as he started singing.

"_We've got one chance to break out and we need it now, cause I'm sick and tired of waiting, sick of this fucking apartment_."

Blaine doubted anyone else knew the song but it was one of his favourites, it had helped him get through some rough times.

"_Love me or leave me or rip me apart , this is the voice that I was given and if you don't like it take a long walk off of the shortest pier you can find_ _and I'll be singing it out I'll be singing..._"

Relating to the feelings in the song had helped Blaine get through the times when he felt like he wasn't wanted by his father or his brother. When he felt like everyone hated him, this song – along with a few others – made him realise that he couldn't do anything to change how he was, and that he shouldn't have to change anything to please anyone.

"_Oh, Mr. Magazine I never wrote one single thing for you or your so-called music scene, you don't mean a thing to me._"

Blaine lost himself in the music as he sang the chorus, letting all the pent up emotion seep through into the song.

"_Pick it up, pick it up, it's what you wanted. Pick it up, pick it up, and you need it too. Pick it up, pick it up, it's what you wanted. Pick it up, pick it up._"

Kurt could see and hear the emotion Blaine was putting into the song and wondered what had caused him to feel such strong hate. Blaine tried to hide a lot from everyone, but Kurt realised that if he watched closely enough he could catch snippets of the real Blaine and slowly find out who he really was.

"_So save your breath and the money you spent, go work in retail and spare the suspense, just don't take chances on anything at all, anything at all._"

Kurt was piecing things together in his mind and he realised that Blaine might be gay. The way he had stepped in on the obvious gay-bashing, what he said at lunch about the gay guy always getting beat up… Kurt was almost certain Blaine was gay and had most probably gotten bullied about it.

"_So afraid of anything that may not come that easy, too afraid of anything that you may not have seen before, so afraid of anything that may not come that easy, too afraid of anything that may not..._"

Blaine let the rest of his emotions go during the last chorus and he held the last note as the rest of the glee club applauded him.

Mr Shue stood up and spoke to Blaine and the rest of the club, "Welcome aboard Blaine."

Most of the glee club members looked impressed, and Blaine would never admit it but he was glad they liked him.

OoOoOoO

The rest of Blaine's week passed without any more incidents. He went to school, detentions and glee club again, then went home and unpacked boxes. His Dad – well, Pepper on his Dad's behalf – had rang to say that Tony would be coming to Ohio to stay with them on the weekend.

Meredith and Tony got along quite well for a divorced couple; they married young but somehow managed to stay together for 6 years and 2 kids. After Blaine was born they realised they couldn't stay together any longer and split up, with Meredith taking the kids.

Tony arrived Sunday afternoon and they went out to dinner at Breadsticks, Lima's best restaurant.

"So how was the first week of school Blainers?" Tony asked his son.

"Fine," Blaine muttered.

"Fine? That's all I get - 'fine'? I'm trying to be an involved father here, you're not giving me much. Did anything of note happen?"

"Not really," Blaine shrugged. He decided to keep his fight a secret from his parents. On Tuesday he got home before his mother and deleted the message from Figgins, hoping the school wouldn't call again.

"Nothing at all?" Tony asked Blaine who continued staring at the table, unresponsive. "Well that's boring."

Blaine looked up at his parents. "Because Lima's boring, Dad. Nothing happened because there's nothing to do here." He wouldn't pass up any opportunity to convince them to let him move.

Meredith quickly changed the subject, "Have you heard from Cooper lately? His commercial's going well I think."

"Good for him," Blaine said bitterly.

"I've been meaning to call him, I'll get Pepper to call him will when I get back," Tony said.

"When are you leaving?" Blaine asked.

"I'm staying till Tuesday. Get some quality time in with you," Tony grinned.

"Oh joy," Blaine said sarcastically.

Tony laughed. "Chin up Blainers, I'll be gone in no time."

Blaine didn't respond but continued to stare at the table and click his tongue ring against his teeth, his usual way of showing disinterest.

OoOoOoO

"You're leaving early tomorrow morning, right?" Blaine asked his father as they drove home from school on Monday afternoon.

"I've got a meeting with SHIELD tomorrow afternoon, I'll be gone before you're home from school," Tony reassured his son.

"Good," Blaine nodded and resumed his staring out the window, watching the world flash by.

"Don't sound so sad to see me go," Tony said sarcastically.

Blaine rolled his eyes. "You know why I don't want you here."

"I do know, and that's why I parked a block away from school to pick you up."

Blaine nodded, "And I'm grateful for that, it's just that the longer you're here the more chance there'll be someone who'll find out who you are. That's the only upside about living in Ohio – no one here knows anything."

Tony knew Blaine was tired of being overshadowed by Stark Industries and people treating him differently because of his father. He wanted to give Blaine a chance to grow up without the pressure of a multi-billion dollar corporation following him everywhere, but it was normally only a matter of time before someone found out – and when someone found out, everyone found out.

"I'm glad you're finally seeing the positives about here." Blaine shook his head at his father and laughed slightly.

"Home sweet home," Blaine mumbled mockingly as they pulled into the driveway.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

A week after the incident with Kurt and the two jocks, Blaine heard the sound of body on locker again. He felt déjà vu as his eyes met the same sight as the Tuesday before. Kurt was once again shoved against the lockers by the same two jocks.

"I thought you learnt your lesson last week," Blaine approached them in what he hoped was a threatening manner. "How's the eye?"

The jocks turned to Blaine, clearly not impressed with what happened the week before. "Better than yours'll be," the first jock said as his fist swung into Blaine's face catching him off guard. Blaine expected a bit of shoving and taunting first, but the jocks seemed to have revenge on their minds.

Blaine quickly retaliated by punching him in the gut. Blaine could feel his eye and cheek bruising and bleeding but before he could do anything about it the other jock shoved him against the locker beside Kurt and attempted to punch Blaine, who dodged it and used the force the jock had already exerted to send him into the locker where Blaine just was.

Body on locker is not a quiet sound and the multiple slams attracted the attention of a few students and Mr Brewer.

"I do hope we're not going to make this a weekly tradition. Principal's office – now!" he ordered.

They trudged up to Principle Figgins' office just like the week before and sat in the waiting area in the same formation. Blaine was clutching his eye to try to stop it bleeding as he waited and was yet again the last to speak to Figgins.

"I gave you a warning last week and this time I have no choice but to get your parents involved," he began. Blaine sighed at the thought of his parents coming to the school and finding out that this was his second fight in just over a week; they had hoped moving to a school might help him stay out of trouble but trouble just seemed to follow Blaine. Figgins had been babbling on while Blaine was distracted by his thoughts but he caught the end of what he was saying, "I will call your parents and have them come to school for a meeting about your recent behaviour. I understand that you are still new to the school but there is no excuse for your unacceptable behaviour."

He sat back in the waiting area with Kurt and the jocks, whose parents had been called in as well. He listened through the door as Figgins called his home, expecting him to find no response and try his mother's work number. Instead Figgins was speaking to someone who answered within a few rings.

"Hello, Mr Stark-" Blaine got distracted at his father's name. What was his Dad still doing at home? He said he was going to leave early that morning, but then again Tony Stark's early was quite different from other people's early. What if he came to school to talk to Figgins and people saw him? His Dad was _Tony Stark_, someone would surely recognise him and it would be the end of Blaine's quiet little existence in Lima.

Blaine groaned audibly when he realised his mother was at work and his Dad was going to be the one going to the meeting with Figgins. Kurt and the jocks looked at him when he made the noise, and Kurt asked him what was wrong.

"My, uh, Dad's on the phone to Figgins," Blaine said simply, but Kurt still looked confused. "Which means he'll probably come and talk to him," Kurt's face still showed no understanding. "Just – you'll see when he gets here." Blaine slouched down into his seat clicking his tongue ring against his teeth and feeling the damage done to his eye.

"That looks sore," Kurt said gently.

Blaine shrugged and glared at the jocks sitting opposite him, "I've had worse."

OoOoOoO

Tony woke up to the sound of a phone ringing. He stretched out on the sofa bed, slowly sat up and reached over to pick up the phone.

"Hello," he said, stifling a yawn.

"Hello, Mr Stark, is it?" An Indian sounding man was on the other end.

"Yes, this is Tony Stark," he replied, waking up more as he spoke and listened to the other man talk. It was Blaine's new Principal, Figgins, he thought the name was. Blaine had been in trouble, 2 fights within a week of each other and now the Principal wanted a meeting with Blaine and his parents.

Tony sighed and stood up, looking around the room for some clothes to put on. When Blaine's Principal was finished talking, he got dressed and went out to his car. He had hoped that moving to a new place would somewhat curb Blaine's bad habits, but he knew Blaine wouldn't start a fight unprovoked. Tony was glad that Meredith didn't have to know about it, if he and Blaine kept to themselves about it then she wouldn't have to know. Blaine's mother would be very disappointed in him, but what she didn't know couldn't hurt her.

OoOoOoO

Blaine was still poking his eye to test how much it hurt, when a man, who Kurt supposed was Blaine's father, strode into the waiting area. Jock Number One and his father were already talking to Figgins when he arrived. When Kurt looked at the man a second time his mouth fell open into a comical 'O' shape.

"Blaine, I don't think we should tell your Mom about this," Tony Stark began, hurriedly talking to Blaine.

"What are you still doing here? You said you were going home this morning," Blaine snapped, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I overslept," Tony said simply. "I thought you'd be glad I'm here not your mother. She'd be quite disappointed in you."

"I guess," Blaine said moodily.

Kurt was still in shock but managed to close his mouth before either of them noticed his staring. The other jock in the room didn't have quite as much tact. "Anderson, your Dad's Iron Man," Jock Number Two blurted.

"I'm aware of that," Blaine rolled his eyes at the jock then turned back to his father. "How are we going to keep this from Mom? She'll find out eventually."

"Yes, but for now if we don't mention it to her, it'll be fine," Tony replied, sounding more like the child than the father in this conversation. "I'll go back to New York after this meeting and if you don't mention it to her, she won't know."

"Fine. Whatever." Blaine didn't look convinced by his father but he didn't push it any further.

Kurt listened to the conversation and one question came to mind, "So Anderson's your mother's name, Blaine?"

"Yeah, Cooper and I got her name so we didn't have to have Stark Industries follow us everywhere," Blaine said flatly. "It comes in handy in keeping who my father really is quiet, too. Until he shows up and ruins it." Blaine looked pointedly at his father.

"It sounds like you're ashamed of me Blainers," Tony said jokingly. Blaine glared at his father for using the nickname. "Sorry, Blaine, but do you want to tell me exactly why I'm here? The Principal said something about you getting in fights again. Should I be concerned? Nice eye by the way."

"Some assholes were picking on Kurt so I intervened. I'm fine, don't worry about me," Blaine answered indifferently.

"Define "picking on" and "intervened" Blaine," Tony didn't look convinced about his son.

"They had him shoved up against a locker and I may have hit them. Happy?" Blaine stared at his father.

Tony exhaled and sat down between Kurt and Blaine. "You okay kid?" he asked Kurt.

"Yeah," Kurt said, his eyes wide at being addressed by one of his favourite superheroes. He blinked and nodded, "I'm fine."

"Good," Tony nodded then turned back to Blaine. "We're going to talk about this later, Blaine."

Jock Number One and his father came out of Principle Figgins' office and he called Blaine and his father in. Kurt sat in shock at realising what had happened that morning: not only had Blaine stuck up to the bullies for him _again_, but he had found out that Blaine was the son of Iron Man. Watching them in the waiting room and in Figgins' office explained a lot about Blaine, and his bitterness from his first day at McKinley.

"Bro, was that Iron Man in there with the new guy?" Jock One asked Two, who nodded in reply.

Gossip always travelled fast around McKinley and Kurt knew this time would be no exception. He felt bad for Blaine; it was tough enough starting a new school, and having everyone know your father's Tony Stark could only make things harder.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Hey Blaine," Kurt smiled as Blaine was at his locker Wednesday morning.

"What do you want?" Blaine sighed and turned to face Kurt.

Kurt was slightly taken aback by the hostility in Blaine's voice. "I just wanted to thank you again – for yesterday."

"That all?" Blaine said impatiently, slinging a worn backpack over his shoulder.

"You weren't at glee club last night–" Kurt began.

"I was a bit preoccupied don't you think?" Blaine cut him off, slamming his locker closed, "What with everyone finding out who my Dad is."

"I suppose…" mumbled Kurt.

"You suppose?" Blaine snorted and started walking down the hallway.

Kurt followed, he was determined to let Blaine know it didn't matter who his father was. "But what difference does it make, having people know?"

Blaine stopped and turned to Kurt, "Do you think people will still treat me the same? I've been overshadowed by Stark Industries and then the Iron Man thing my whole life and now any hope of a relatively normal life here is gone. I was perfectly happy being Blaine Anderson the New-Kid-That- Everyone'll-Forget-About-Soon, but now I'm Blaine Stark the son of Iron Man. Is that 'difference' enough?"

"Sure some people will think that but not everyone here is that narrow minded." Blaine raised his eyebrows at Kurt. "Well, there are a lot of narrow minded people here but come to glee club tomorrow – I promise no one will treat you any differently."

"Fine. I'll come again," Blaine said, then walked off glaring at everyone he passed.

Most people thought they knew Blaine's big secret now but Kurt could tell there was something more he was hiding.

OoOoOoO

Blaine was already in the choir room when Kurt arrived and sat beside him in his usual spot in the back row. Blaine was wearing his usual expression of indifference but today there was something more to it, his jaw was tensed in something Kurt thought looked like frustration and almost anger. Kurt was curious about what was causing Blaine to feel that way but didn't want to pry, so they sat in silence.

The conversation between the other boys drifted up to them and at first Kurt couldn't make out what they were talking about.

"But come on," Finn said, "how cool would it be to turn into a giant green rage monster?"

"It would be way too hard to control though," Puck countered. "Captain America's pretty cool – he was trapped in ice for 70 years and has the cool shield and everything."

It dawned in Kurt what the boys were talking about and the reason behind Blaine's mood became clearer. They were discussing their favourite Avengers, and if Iron Man was Blaine's father then he probably knew the rest of the Avengers as well.

"He's alright, but Iron Man's definitely the best – his suit's amazing," Sam disputed and Blaine's eyes flicked to him.

"Sure the suit's cool, but it's not a real superpower. Take it away and what have you got?" Finn asked.

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist," Blaine smirked slightly and the boys in front of them turned to look at him, unaware he was listening to their conversation.

"You're an Iron Man fan then?" Sam grinned. It seemed news hadn't spread as fast as Kurt had thought it would.

Blaine raised an eyebrow at Sam, then turned to Kurt and said, "I would have thought it would have spread faster wouldn't you?"

Kurt was surprised by Blaine's casualness and nodded slightly. Sam looked somewhat confused but continued smiling at them until Mike filled them in. "You haven't heard yet?" he asked then looked at Blaine who shrugged slightly, signalling that it was okay to tell them. "Iron Man's Blaine's Dad."

"Whoa, really?" Sam turned back to Blaine who nodded in reply.

"Wait, if you're Dad's Iron Man, do you know the rest of the Avengers too?" Puck asked.

Blaine nodded, "Yeah I've met most of them." Sam and Puck grinned in awe. From his times staying at Stark tower he had met nearly all of the Avengers – Steve and Bruce were at the Tower regularly, Fury and Coulson visited on occasion, and he'd met Clint and Natasha a couple of times. The only one of the team he hadn't yet met was Thor.

"Hang on, Iron Man's name's Tony Stark right? Then why don't you–" Blaine cut Finn's question off.

"Anderson's my mother's name. My brother and I took it so we wouldn't have to have Stark Industries follow us everywhere," Blaine answered these questions every time people found out who his father was.

"So do you see your Dad much, like is he coming here soon?" Sam asked enthusiastically.

Blaine clenched his jaw, of course people wanted to know when Tony Stark was in town, everyone wanted to see when Iron Man would be here. "He just left on Tuesday. I don't think he'll be coming back soon."

Sam looked slightly disappointed but nodded and said to Blaine, "That's really cool, man."

"That's freaking awesome bro," Puck grinned.

Blaine shrugged and leant forward to mutter into Kurt's ear, "No one will treat me differently at glee club my ass."

He leant back and Kurt looked at him apologetically.

Any more questions the boys may have had were put on hold when Mr Shue entered and began the day's lesson.

"Alright, question for the group – what's a duet?" he asked, writing the word "duets" on the whiteboard.

"A blanket," replied one of the blonde cheerleaders Blaine didn't know the name of.

"A duet is when two voices join to become one," Mr Shue answered continued. Blaine thought he knew where this was going and he wasn't looking forward to it, he hated working with others. "This week I want you to pair up, and sing a duet." Blaine's dread was confirmed, he would have to sing with someone.

Blaine crossed his arms and looked around at his classmates. They were all exchanging glances with their prospective partners and he noticed Kurt trying to catch his eye. Kurt seemed like an alright guy, maybe this wouldn't be as bad as he thought.

"Do you want to team up?" Kurt asked. "Unless you go with Rachel, I'm your best shot at winning this thing."

Blaine smiled slightly and nodded, "Sure."

"Great, I have so many ideas, when do you want to meet up and practise?" Kurt smiled enthusiastically.

"What about tomorrow? You could come to my place after school?"

"Sounds great," Kurt grinned.

"Cool," Blaine nodded.

OoOoOoO

Kurt didn't start getting nervous about practising with Blaine until his last class of the day when Mercedes asked him if he wanted to go shopping after school.

"I can't, I'm going to Blaine's to practice for duets competition," Kurt replied.

A huge grin split over Mercedes face at his words, "You're going to his house? So you'll be like _alone_?"

Kurt blushed slightly and smiled, "His Mom might be there, but we're just singing – I'm not even sure if he's gay." Mercedes raised her eyebrow at him. "Okay, well I'm nearly certain, but he's probably not interested in me anyway."

"Then make him interested," Mercedes smirked. "He hasn't heard you sing yet…"

Kurt blushed, "I'm not that good, he's so much better."

"You're going to sound amazing together, have you chosen a song yet?"

"I think we'll choose tonight–" another thrill of nerves shot through Kurt at the thought of spending time alone with Blaine at his house, "–I don't know what kind of songs he'll be into."

"You'll find something you'll agree on," Mercedes smiled reassuringly as the bell went and Kurt went to meet Blaine at his locker.

"Hey," Kurt smiled nervously at Blaine.

"Hi," Blaine replied, distractedly putting books into his locker.

"Do you still want to practice for glee tonight?" Kurt asked.

Blaine nodded, "Still at my place?"

"Yeah, are you ready to go?" Kurt wasn't sure how they were going to get to Blaine's house.

Blaine closed his locker and slung his bag over his shoulder, "Yep, you've got a car don't you?" Kurt nodded in affirmation. "Let's go then," Blaine led the way out to the parking lot.

The drive to Blaine's house was sufficiently awkward, the radio and Blaine's directions the only things breaking the silence between them.

Kurt pulled into the driveway of the small house Blaine directed him to. Kurt didn't know what to expect about Blaine's house, part of him thought it might have been an enormous mansion in the rich part of town, but another part of his mind knew that they would have a more modest place in the middle-class area to draw less attention to their family.

Blaine led the way inside, "My Mom's working late tonight so we've got plenty of time to practice, and there's a piano in the other room if it helps."

Kurt smiled and tried to calm the butterflies in his stomach, "You play piano as well as guitar?"

"Yeah, my brother taught me, we'd put little concerts on when we were kids," Blaine smiled slightly at the memory then resumed his mask of indifference.

Kurt nodded, "So what do you want to sing for our duet? I've got a few ideas but we can do whatever you want."

Blaine shrugged, "I don't really know, have you heard Candles by Hey Monday? I thought that might sound good as a duet."

"Yeah, I've heard it," Kurt said as Blaine moved to the piano and started playing.

Blaine's hands were surprisingly gentle on the keys as he played through the intro and Kurt began the verse.

"_The power lines went out, and I am all alone, but I don't really care at all not answering my phone._"

Blaine took over for the next lines and Kurt saw another glimpse of the emotion he had when he sang in his audition. Kurt knew those lyrics meant something deeper to Blaine, but he didn't know why yet.

"_All the games you played, the promises you made, couldn't finish what you started only darkness still remains._"

Kurt joined him for the lead up to the chorus, "_lost sight, couldn't see when it was you and me_."

Blaine looked up at him and smiled as they continued through the chorus, "_blow the candles out, looks like a solo tonight, I'm beginning to see the light. Blow the candles out, looks like a solo tonight, but I think I'll be alright_."

Blaine led the start of the second verse "_been black and blue before_–"

Kurt heard the layer of meaning behind his singing and tried to convey it back through the next line, "_there's no need to explain, I am not the jaded kind playback's such a waste_."

Kurt hoped to be the one to get past Blaine's tough exterior and find out why he put up such strong walls, and why he reacted to certain things differently to most people.

"_You're invisible, invisible to me; my wish is coming true erase the memory of your face._"

Blaine screwed his face up at the last line and they continued through the chorus together again and Blaine took the lead through the bridge.

"_One day you will wake up with nothing but "you're sorry" s and someday you will get back everything you gave me._"

Kurt watched as Blaine sang his heart out, almost as if he wasn't there. Blaine had a way of making it seem like he was the only person on the planet when he was singing, and that everything he sang held the gateway into his past.

Kurt joined him in the last chorus and watched him curiously, smiling gently when Blaine looked up as they were harmonising the last line.

"Well that definitely has potential," Kurt said breathlessly, still smiling at Blaine.

Blaine crossed his arms and frowned at the piano. "Why do you look at me like that?" he asked.

"Like what?" Kurt asked in reply.

"Like you know something – just because you know who my dad is doesn't mean you know everything about me," Blaine had noticed the way Kurt looked at him every time he came close to revealing something personal.

"I know I don't know everything, I never said I did," Kurt defended himself. "But you have a way when you're singing, and sometimes when you talk about other things – I can't describe it but it's beautiful."

Blaine was slightly taken aback by the compliment. "Beautiful?" he scoffed and shook his head. "Let's just get back to choosing a song; I think we could do Candles pretty well."

"You sound amazing in it," Kurt noticed the abrupt change in subject.

Blaine chuckled slightly, "thanks, so do you."

Kurt was still looking at Blaine in that knowing way as he sighed and ran a hand through his curls. He didn't know what Kurt thought he knew or what he thought he wanted to know, but it wasn't the first time something like this had happened. People get excited to know the new kid, they get interested the air of mystery that followed him but the novelty always wore off. Either they give up trying to get anything out of him or they find out and don't care. The same thing happened every time he moved to a new school, which is why he stopped trying to make friends – who needs them when all they did was give up?

There was something different about Kurt though, and that was what bothered him by the way he looked at him. It was different to the usual looks people gave him when they tried to be his friend. Kurt seemed to be looking deeper, past curiousness and more like really caring – but Blaine knew it wouldn't last, something better would come along and Kurt would get tired of him eventually.

Kurt was still smiling, his blue eyes warm and caring as he surveyed Blaine in that way that had never been directed towards him before. Blaine shook his head to clear it. "Do you want to do it again? I've never really done a duet before, but maybe if you joined in for the end of the verse?"

Kurt nodded, "that would sound great."

They practiced a few more times, adding harmonies and changing lines until Kurt noticed the time and rushed off to his Friday Night Dinner with his father, only after arranging to rehearse again on Monday after school.

Blaine microwaved a frozen dinner and sat down to eat alone, thinking about the afternoon's events. It was the first time he'd had someone over at his house in a long time, Kurt did strange things to Blaine, he forgot that he didn't want friends and that everyone would screw him over eventually. Kurt made him want to want friends, made him want to forget that nobody would care once the novelty wore off. The problem with letting people in wasn't just about wanting friends, it was about finding people to trust to tell about the past, but Blaine thought Kurt had potential and maybe someday he would tell him about his past… someday.

Blaine's favourite thing about having such a screwed up family was the alone time he got. His father was in New York, Cooper was in LA and his mother was at work which left Blaine with the freedom to do what he wanted, he was left alone with his thoughts – just how he liked it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Blaine spent the weekend doing homework and practising for his duet. His mother worked Saturday but had Sunday at home, which – much to Blaine's dismay – left them with plenty of bonding time. Now that most of the unpacking was done and he finished his homework the day before, he didn't have an excuse to retreat to his room to escape conversation.

"How's glee club going?" Meredith enquired to Blaine on Sunday afternoon. "It's great that you're joining a club."

Blaine shrugged and mumbled, "It's good I suppose."

"That's good," Meredith smiled. "Are you working on anything for it at the moment? I heard you singing when I got home last night."

"Yeah there's a duet competition, I'm singing with this guy Kurt."

Meredith beamed at the thought of her son partnering with someone for a duet competition, it had been so long since he had willingly worked with somebody else – teamwork and trust weren't Blaine's strong points. "What are you singing, would I know it?"

"Probably not, it's Candles by Hey Monday," Blaine clicked his tongue ring against his teeth in disinterest.

"I don't think I know it," Meredith agreed, "And who's this guy Kurt, would I like him?"

Blaine shrugged and blushed slightly, "Probably, he's pretty nice." Blaine thought Kurt would get along with his mother perfectly fine, he was kind and honest – the kind of person that all parents would love, and quite a contrast from Blaine's previous friends.

"That's great," Meredith smiled.

"Mhmm," Blaine mumbled and cursed himself for blushing at Kurt's name. He didn't know why he was blushing, nothing blush-worthy had happened between them but Blaine almost wished it would. It was hard to find a guy that was gay, attractive, liked him and didn't care about who his family were but Kurt fit each category.

OoOoOoO

Kurt spent his weekend similarly, with homework, practising for glee and trying not to think about Blaine. It was hard to keep his mind from straying to thoughts about Blaine, about what he knew about him, what he was hiding, the way he sang, his stunning hazel eyes, the look on his face when he said something personal or about his past... Blaine was on Kurt's mind all weekend and he was looking forward to seeing him at school.

Kurt had butterflies in his stomach when Blaine sat beside him in English, just his presence was enough to make Kurt excited. Blaine spent most of the class tapping his tongue ring against his teeth, glaring at everyone and ignoring Sam's attempts to catch his attention.

"How was your weekend, Blaine?" Kurt tried to distract Blaine from his brooding.

"Fine," he muttered.

"Do you still want to practise for glee tonight?" Kurt enquired.

"Yeah, sure," Blaine nodded in affirmation.

"You two are together in the duets competition? What're you singing?" Sam interjected..

Blaine ignored him but Kurt replied, "Candles by Hey Monday. Who are you with?"

"I'm with Quinn, she's really great," he grinned.

"That's great," Kurt smiled. Blaine was staring at the table, still ignoring Sam.

OoOoOoO

The last lesson of the day finished and Kurt met Blaine at his locker just like on Friday. The drive to Blaine's house was slightly less awkward than the last time, the boys were getting more comfortable in each other's presence.

"I've been practising all weekend, we're going to be fabulous tomorrow," Kurt beamed as they entered Blaine's house.

"Me too, and I hope so," Blaine walked over to the piano.

Blaine's fingers twinkled over the keys and Kurt began singing. He had obviously been practising over the weekend, Blaine could hear the improvement and they sang the rest of the song nearly flawlessly.

As they held the last note together Blaine's eyes locked on Kurt's and he swallowed all of his fears and his instincts that were screaming at him not to get attached. Blaine looked into those clear blue-green eyes and forced himself let go of the walls he'd put up to protect himself, to give in to the temptation, regardless of the consequences. Blaine's fingers left the piano and held Kurt's cheek gently in as he leant in towards the other boy. Kurt realised what Blaine was doing and closed the distance between them, their lips meeting gently in their first kiss.

Kurt watched as Blaine sat back on the stool, not bothering to try to hide the grin on his face. Kurt was startled by Blaine's actions but far from upset about it. He had been secretly hoping for something like this to happen since he saw Blaine on his first day at McKinley. It was better than anything he could have imagined – the smoothness of Blaine's lips, the feel of the cold metal of his lip ring and the sweetness of his warm breath – it was perfect.

"We should… we should practise," Blaine said, still unable to stop grinning.

"I thought we were," Kurt countered breathlessly.

Blaine slid over on the piano stool and grabbed Kurt's hand, pulling him down beside him, smirking as he wrapped an arm around Kurt's waist and leaned in close again.

"I really like you, Kurt," Blaine whispered into his ear.

Blaine's lips found Kurt's once more and they moved together gently, enjoying the taste of each other's breath and the warmth of their closeness.

After a few moments Kurt pulled away and Blaine chewed on his lip ring, watching him.

Kurt cleared his throat, blushing slightly and smiling. "Uh, back to the song?" he asked.

Blaine chuckled and nodded, "sure."

Blaine returned his hands to the piano and tried not to think about the negatives of what had just happened. He tried not to think about the fact that for the first time in years he'd shown his feelings to someone, he'd given someone the opportunity to let him down. He'd started to open himself up to someone and it scared him.

Kurt's euphoria about the kiss was dampened by the look on Blaine's face as they rehearsed for the rest of the afternoon. Kurt didn't know how long it had been since Blaine had let himself have feelings for someone but he could tell Blaine was scared about what he had done, scared that he liked Kurt and scared that he had admitted it. Blaine had _that_ look in his eyes and Kurt didn't think it meant anything good.

"I should get going, I have to be home for dinner," Kurt said after several successful run-throughs of their song.

"Alright," Blaine nodded and got up. "Be ready to win tomorrow afternoon."

"We're going to be amazing," Kurt smiled and slipped his hand into Blaine's, who didn't flinch away as they walked to the door.

Blaine pinned Kurt against the door and kissed him passionately. "We are amazing," he smirked.

Kurt blushed and turned around to open the door, leaving Blaine the perfect opportunity to tap Kurt's firm and adorable butt.

Kurt blushed deeper and squeaked slightly at the touch. "Get outta here, Hummel," Blaine chuckled.

OoOoOoO

"Me and Santana are going to own this duets competition in glee," Mercedes announced to Tina and Kurt at their lockers Tuesday morning.

"How's your duet with Blaine going, Kurt?" Tina asked him.

"Really good, I think we have a good shot at winning this," he replied, trying not to blush as he thought about their practising the night before.

"You've got some good competition," Mercedes reminded him.

"I know, but we're still going to beat you," he grinned as Mercedes and Tina laughed in reply.

Blaine walked past them on his way to his locker and Kurt unsuccessfully attempted not to blush, which didn't go unnoticed by the girls.

Mercedes face split into a huge grin at the sight of Kurt's red cheeks, "Kurt, why are you blushing?"

Kurt avoided their gazes, "I'm not."

"You kind of are," Tina said.

Kurt shrugged, "I'm not blushing." He didn't know where he stood with Blaine and telling people they kissed would probably only make things worse.

"Okay, if you say so," Mercedes said, not quite believing him.

"I can understand why you're blushing, Kurt, if someone like Blaine liked me I'd be blushing too," Tina grinned. "He's so hot and mysterious, not to mention that his Dad's Iron Man and he's insanely rich."

"Can't you think of anything else good about him? He's more than just Iron Man's son," Kurt was slightly disappointed in his friend.

"We know he is, we just don't know that much else about him," Mercedes said gently.

Kurt sighed, "I know, but if we're patient and prove that we don't care about all of that then maybe we can find out more about him." The bell for first period rang and Kurt shook his head to clear it. "Let's just go to class."

OoOoOoO

Blaine sat in the choir room waiting for the rest of the glee club to arrive, about half of them were already there. He chewed on his lip ring, remembering how good it felt to have Kurt's lips pressed to his. He still wasn't used to the things Kurt made him feel, it was odd to be caring about someone and to be thinking about telling someone about his past.

Blaine had lived in many different places over his life but never would he have thought that in boring little Lima, Ohio would he find someone worth getting to know and someone that would make him feel this way.

Kurt entered the room with Tina and Mercedes and sat beside Blaine in the back row.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Yeah," Blaine nodded in reply. "Are you?"

"Yeah," Kurt smiled.

Mercedes and Santana went first, and Mercedes was right to be so confident that morning, they were great. Tina and Mike went next, and then it was Kurt and Blaine's turn.

Brad the pianist played the familiar opening notes and Kurt began singing like Blaine had never heard him before. Blaine had thought Kurt was good during their rehearsals but that was nothing in comparison to now, Kurt shone and Blaine barely remembered that this was a duet and he had to sing the next line.

Blaine looked back at the mostly friendly faces looking at him as he sang. He avoided looking at Kurt as much as he could while they sang, resisting the urge to jump on him and kiss him senseless. The song held so much meaning for him, he loved finding songs that summed up the things that he felt and this song was perfect.

They held the last note together and their audience applauded. Blaine smiled for the first time in front of them. He was genuinely starting to feel happy for the first time in a while. People appreciated his talent and there was an amazing guy that liked him beside him, it was okay to feel happy for a little while.

OoOoOoO

Kurt followed Blaine out to the parking lot after glee club. "Do you want a ride?" he offered.

Blaine shrugged, "sure."

"How do you normally get home?" Kurt asked as they got into his car.

"I walk, or Mom'll pick me up if she's not at work."

"All that way?"

"It's not that far," Blaine mumbled then changed the subject. "You were amazing just then, I nearly forgot it was a duet and just wanted to listen to you."

Kurt blushed at his compliment, "you were great too. I think we've got a good chance at winning."

"Yeah," Blaine half-shrugged and chewed on his lip ring in a way that made Kurt melt and nearly forget he was driving.

They pulled up at Blaine's house behind a car already there and Blaine leant over to Kurt who instinctively closed the distance between them, kissing him gently then pressing their foreheads together.

"Is it too early to be asking what this–" Kurt motioned to their close faces "–is?" Kurt didn't want to scare Blaine away but he also wanted some answers.

Blaine leant back in his seat, "I don't know," he shook his head. "Can't we just enjoy it for now?"

Kurt nodded and blushed, "Sure."

"My Mom's home," Blaine gestured to the other car in the driveway, "otherwise I'd invite you in so we could continue without the gearstick between us."

Kurt blushed deeper as Blaine leant in again and kissed him quickly but passionately before opening the door and leaving Kurt alone, horny and full of questions.

Meredith was watching TV when Blaine walked in. "You're home early, I thought you had glee tonight?" she asked.

"I did," he answered joining her on the couch, "but I got a ride home with Kurt, hence the earliness."

"He's the boy you did your duet with?" she tried to remember what he had said when he mentioned the duet before and Blaine nodded in reply. "How'd it go?"

"Pretty good, Kurt was amazing," Blaine grinned.

"You think you'll win it?"

"Maybe," Blaine shrugged. "There are a lot of other talented people there though."

Meredith nodded and turned back to the TV, glad Blaine was making friends at this school.


	7. Chapter 7

******A/N: I'm constantly blown away by how many people are reading this, every notification email makes my day so much better and I hope I don't disappoint you. There should be lots of Avengers/Iron Man in the next one or two chapters and ****plenty more Klaine in the next few. T****hank you all of you who read, review, favourite and follow this, and a special thank you to Kieran/darklordduckie for beta-ing and helping this make any sense.**

**Chapter 7**

Blaine tried to ignore the Iron Man T-shirt Sam was wearing when he sat beside him in English on Wednesday.

"Hey Blaine," Sam greeted him but Blaine snubbed him like usual, focusing his attention on Kurt entering the room. Kurt blushed slightly when he noticed Blaine's eyes on him and took his seat.

"Blaine?" Sam tried to get his attention again.

Blaine smirked and gently ran his fingers up and down Kurt's thigh, enjoying watching the other boy blush deeper.

"What's your problem with me, man?" Sam burst out, noticing Blaine's obvious disregard of him.

Blaine turned around and said simply, "I don't like you."

"What did I ever do to you?" Sam voice held a mix of anger and confusion.

Blaine looked pointedly at the shirt Sam was wearing, red and gold with the arc reactor on his chest. "You're a fan of my father. I'm not," Blaine said coldly.

"So you just mindlessly dislike anyone that likes Iron Man?" Sam asked incredulously.

Blaine shook his head and clenched his jaw, "Not necessarily, I just don't like you."

"So you just hate me for no reason?" Their raised voices were attracting the attention of most of their classmates.

"I never said hate, and don't take it too personally," Blaine chuckled humourlessly, "I dislike most of the people here."

The laughter had driven Sam over the edge and he stood up, Blaine copying him on instinct.

"Boys, sit down," Mr Smith requested sternly.

"You may say you don't like your Dad being Iron Man, but we can all tell you think you're better than us because of it. Maybe we're not all rich and this isn't New York or LA, but get your head out of your ass and get over yourself, Anderson," Sam shoved Blaine on his last word. "Or should I say Stark?"

Blaine shoved Sam back. "Don't talk about things you don't know, Evans," Blaine spat.

"What don't I know? How hard it is to be slumming it in little Lima without your butler?"

"I'd shut up before you say something you regret," Blaine curled his fists by his side, restraining himself from hitting Sam.

"Suck it up Princess," Sam realised he should have heeded Blaine's advice when Blaine grabbed his shirt and pulled him down so their faces were only inches apart.

"Give me one good reason not to–" Blaine began threatening until Sam shoved him away hard and their classmates restrained them.

"Principal's Office, now – both of you," Mr Smith glared at the boys.

Blaine shook off Kurt and the other boy who had hold of him, slung his bag over his shoulder and trudged the familiar path to Principal Figgins' office.

He didn't try to get in fights, but trouble seemed to find Blaine no matter how hard he attempted to avoid it. He knew there would be no way of hiding it from his mother this time, she would be called in to speak with Figgins and find out about his other two fights. He knew she'd be disappointed in him but he didn't know what she would do to punish him – if she even did anything. Moving to a quiet little town had seemed like Meredith's last attempt at taming her son.

Blaine slumped into a chair in the waiting area and glared at Sam as he took the seat opposite. Figgins gave them the usual "I'm going to have to call your parents…" speech but Blaine barely paid attention, clicking his tongue piercing against his teeth and dreading his mother's reaction.

Meredith entered the office looking disappointed in her son. Blaine was glad, disappointment was an emotion and anything's better than nothing when it comes to his mother's emotions towards him.

Blaine remembered countless meetings like this from his old schools, from when he was getting beat up, then later when he learnt to defend himself and was no longer seen as the victim. The meetings with his Principals were the only times Meredith showed much emotion during those years. The worst time was when everything seemed to be falling apart in Blaine's life: his father was missing in Afghanistan, he was getting bullied and beat up regularly at school for being gay, and then things got taken too far and he ended up in hospital. But even that wasn't enough to get Meredith to wake up from her haze. Blaine didn't know what he would have done without his brother, even if he wasn't one of the most competent people he was better than being completely alone.

The meeting with Figgins was brief but thorough: this was Blaine's third offense which meant a suspension, not that Meredith helped dissuade the principal at all, she seemed nothing but supportive of the idea.

"You've spent too much time alone, Blaine," Meredith said to him once they were alone in the waiting area and Figgins was speaking with Sam and his parents.

"There's nothing wrong with being alone," Blaine grumbled.

"In small doses, yes, but honey we need to spend more time as a family. When was the last time we spent more than a few hours together?" she soothed.

"Dad came home for a whole weekend the other week," Blaine argued.

"But Cooper wasn't there, it wasn't our whole family," Meredith countered. "We're going to spend your suspension and the weekend in New York with your father." Blaine groaned in protest. "It'll do us all some good, family bonding time is exactly what we all need. Cooper's coming here tonight before we leave tomorrow."

Blaine clicked his tongue ring against his teeth, trying to think of a way to get out of it. Family bonding time was low on his list of priorities, especially now that kissing Kurt was on that list. Maybe he could use this situation to his advantage, Meredith wanted him to spend less time alone and he wasn't alone when he was with Kurt. He could try to befriend some of the other people in glee club to get her off his back, the guy with the Mohawk didn't look too bad and the tall Asian kid looked friendly enough.

Blaine sighed, "Fine. New York's better than this dump anyway."

OoOoOoO

"How did things go with Figgins?" Kurt timidly approached Blaine as he went to his locker.

"Suspended for the rest of the week," Blaine said flatly. "My Mom found out about the other fights and I think she helped convince Figgins to suspend me," he shook his head to clear it then smirked, "It was much more fun with you in there with me, you make everything much more enjoyable. Anyway, I'm off to New York, apparently my trouble is due to lack of family time and I need to visit my Dad. I won't be around to defend your honour so try not to get into too much trouble when I'm gone?" Blaine snuck a quick peck on Kurt's lips making the other boy blush. Blaine was getting into the habit of telling Kurt more than he normally told people, telling him things that someone would tell a friend, but maybe that's what Kurt was: his friend.

"It'll be good though, won't it? Going to New York and seeing your Dad?" Kurt asked.

Blaine shrugged, "It's better than staying here. But you in New York with me – well that'd be something great." Kurt blushed deeper and Blaine grinned, grabbing Kurt's hand. "You're so cute when you blush."

"I'm not blushing," Kurt denied.

"Whatever you say," Blaine laughed. "I've got to go."

Kurt squeezed Blaine's hand, "have fun in New York."

OoOoOoO

Blaine couldn't sleep when he was upset or worried, but his mother was somewhat of a heavy sleeper so he often spent his nights either boxing or, more commonly, playing guitar and singing softly, finding the right song to sum up his emotions and spending the hours of darkness attempting to perfect them, allowing himself only those hours to cry. Only when in the company of the moon and when everyone else was asleep did Blaine ever let him emotions show.

That night he was both upset and worried – upset that he had let himself get into more trouble, and worried about his mother's proposed 'family bonding time'. They had never been a normal family and hadn't spent longer than a few hours all together in a very long time so Blaine had good reason to worry. He was also worried about his brother coming to Lima before they left for New York to spend time with their father. Cooper was nowhere near as famous as their father but his commercial had still gathered many fans and was just something else that would overshadow Blaine.

People say that Blaine got his father's intelligence, but Cooper got the ego. Even so, Blaine would much rather live in Cooper's shadow in the Californian sun than continue living his dreary existence in Ohio, even with the ray of sunshine that Kurt provided.

A song came to mind and Blaine rummaged through his folder of guitar tabs for the one he'd printed off long ago.

He laid the sheet music on his bed and began strumming the opening chords, wishing he didn't have to limit his volume – this was a song best played loud.

"_Where I come from isn't all that great, my automobile is a piece of crap, my fashion sense is a little whack, and my friends are just as screwy as me._"

Blaine was too focused on the song to hear the taxi pull up or the sound of the front door opening. He didn't hear the footsteps that lead to his room as Cooper leant on the doorjamb and listened to Blaine sing, "_I didn't go to boarding schools, preppie girls never looked at me, why should they? I ain't nobody, got nothing in my pocket._"

Cooper joined in when they reached the chorus, startling Blaine who was oblivious to his presence.

"_Beverly Hills, that's where I want to be, livin' in Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills, rollin' like a celebrity, livin' in Beverly Hills._"

Blaine frowned but kept playing as Cooper took the lead through the next verse – typical of him, taking over whatever Blaine was doing.

"_Look at all those movie stars, they're all so beautiful and clean, when the housemaids scrub the floors, they get the spaces in between._"

Blaine glared at his brother and cut him off with the other half of the verse, singing stronger and with obvious feeling.

"_I wanna live a life like that, I wanna be just like a king, take my picture by the pool, 'cause I'm the next big thing._"

They sang the chorus together again but Blaine stopped strumming before the bridge.

"What are you doing here, Coop?" he asked, sighing and running a hand through his hair.

"Mom asked me to come for some "family bonding time" and I don't have any work lined up for a while so I got on the next flight I could," Cooper answered. "What did I hear about you getting into more fights?"

"A couple of guys were beating someone up so I intervened, and then today a guy was pissing me off." Cooper raised his eyebrows at his brother's words. "I didn't hit the guy today though," Blaine defended, "he shoved me first and I'm the one that gets suspended."

"It seems you got Dad's strong sense of justice, though I got his looks," Cooper grinned, then sighed and sat down on Blaine's bed. "We both know by now that life isn't fair, but at least you get to New York and spend time with our family."

Blaine scoffed, "because spending time with _our_ family is the bright side of this."

"It could be worse," Cooper shrugged. "Mom's right, you have been spending too much time alone. Maybe a bit of bonding will do us all some good."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Blaine spent the plane ride to New York in near silence, speaking only to answer his mother or brother in monosyllabic sentences. Although Blaine was glad to be out of Lima and be in the exciting city of New York, he wasn't looking forward to spending time with his father again.

Blaine's bedroom in Stark Tower hadn't changed much since the last time he'd been there, though the clothes he left in the closet were a few sizes small and it had been a while since he'd listened to any of the bands on the CD rack.

Small engines and other gadgets lined the shelf beside the window that looked over the city. He remembered the summers and occasional weekends he'd spend with his father building and inventing. The summer they rebuilt a car together was the summer after he came out as gay, Blaine didn't get at first that Tony was trying to turn him straight but after a thoroughly awkward and hostile conversation they were both more enlightened.

Blaine threw the bag he was supposed to be unpacking down at the foot of his bed and started walking back to the lounge room. He stopped when he heard his name and a vaguely familiar voice talking to his father.

"You know Blaine's smart enough to help," the voice said. Blaine stayed hidden in the doorway and listened.

"I know he is, but he's only 16," Tony argued. "He's not ready, you've seen his record."

"Give him some time, maybe he'll surprise us one day," another voice joined the conversation, a female this time – Natasha perhaps?

"But not yet, the last thing he needs is more pressure right now," Blaine could hear his father's jaw clenching as he spoke.

"At least let us talk to him, you know he'd be an asset to the Avengers when he's ready." Blaine finally recognised the voice, it was Director Fury.

"No," Tony was starting to sound impatient.

"You can't decide this for him," Natasha reasoned. "And maybe this could be the thing that gets him back in line."

"You don't know Blaine, it won't be a 'thing' that stops all his trouble. He'll sort himself out when he's ready."

Frustration was audible in Tony's voice and Fury seemed to hear it. "Fine," he said. "We were just hoping someone in the Stark family might have had the brains _and_ the social skills."

"You two do realise Blaine's been standing in the doorway for the past few minutes listening in, don't you?" Natasha blew Blaine's cover and he attempted to retreat back into his room unnoticed.

"Blaine!" Tony called. "Get in here."

Blaine sulked back into the lounge room and faced his father, Fury, and Natasha. "Yeah, Dad?"

Tony's face was stern for a moment, but then he sighed and asked, "How much did you hear?"

"A bit – enough to know you don't think I'm ready for something and that apparently I need to sort myself out and get back in line." That last part had stung Blaine, he knew he got into trouble a lot but he never meant to.

"Blaine, we're interested in talking to you about the Avengers Initiative," Fury explained.

"We think you might be able to help us – we already know you can fight," Natasha smirked at Blaine and Tony glared at both of them.

"Your Dad showed us some of the things you've built together and we think you have real potential," Fury continued.

"Blaine!" Cooper called from his bedroom.

"What?" Blaine shouted back. They may not be a normal family in most aspects, but sometimes they're indiscernible from any other family.

"I need to borrow a razor, I didn't bring any!"

Blaine rolled his eyes at his brother, "It's in my–" Blaine stopped when he noticed Fury and Natasha leaving.

"We have to get going," Fury said. "Just think about it." Blaine nodded.

Avoiding his father's eyes, Blaine called "Coming!" to his brother and went to find the razor for him.

Tony was waiting in Blaine's room when he returned there. "Blaine," Tony said sternly.

"You don't want me to join." It wasn't a question.

"Do you want to join?" Tony asked.

"I don't know," Blaine said honestly.

"This is why I don't think you should: you're not ready, Blaine. You're a 16 year old kid who's smart as hell but you've got anger and 'behavioural' issues. You're not ready for this kind of responsibility," Tony matched Blaine's honesty.

"So you're just going to decide this for me? I don't get any say?"

"No, you can decide for yourself. I'm just trying to persuade you," Tony walked over to the shelves beside the window and sighed. "Maybe it wouldn't be so bad just getting some help from you, we always worked better on these as a team."

Blaine clicked his tongue ring against his teeth as he watched his father looking at all the things they'd made together and the things Blaine had made by himself once he decided he didn't need his father's help.

"Do you want me to tell Mom and Cooper about this or is it 'top secret'?" Blaine asked.

"They don't have to know unless you want them to," Tony replied, still looking at the shelves.

"Fine," Blaine nodded, crossed his arms over his chest and left to find his mother, leaving Tony alone in his room.

"Mom," he found her in the spare bedroom on their floor. "I'm going out. I'm meeting up with a couple of the people I called friends when I lived here."

"No you're not, we came here to spend time as a family," Meredith said, the authority in her tone just barely noticeable.

"We've got all weekend for that, I'll only be like an hour or two," Blaine tried to reason. "You say I spend too much time alone but won't let me go spend time with my old friends?"

"Fine," Meredith caved. "But keep your phone on you and if you're not home within an hour I'm sending your Dad to find you."

"Two hours?"

"An hour."

"An hour and a half?"

"One hour."

"But–"

"One hour or nothing, Blaine Anthony Anderson."

"Fine," Blaine patted his pocket to show that his phone was there and hurried out to the elevator.

OoOoOoO

Blaine entered his favourite coffee shop he used to frequent and found the boy he was looking for at their usual table. Many memories were made at that table and yet that was where Sebastian chose to sit today. Blaine ordered his coffee and sat down opposite him.

"Hey Blaine," he said.

"Hey," Blaine replied.

"I was surprised and delighted to get your text, what brings you to New York, and how long are you here for?"

"It's kind of a long story but I'm spending my suspension here until Sunday."

"Suspension?" Sebastian raised his eyebrow at the boy sitting opposite him.

"It's complicated," Blaine shook his head. "But how are you? Gotten over my viciously dumping you yet?"

"I wouldn't say 'viciously' but yes, there've been several people willing to help me with that," Sebastian smirked.

"I'm sure there were people queuing up for miles once I left," Blaine laughed.

"I know one person who could skip straight to the front of the line." Desire was dripping from Sebastian's voice.

"I dumped you before I knew I was moving, and I haven't regretted it in the slightest," Blaine reinforced where they stood. "I've even managed to find someone else."

"What's his name?" Sebastian grinned at the slight blush on his ex's cheek.

"Kurt," Blaine rolled his eyes at the smirk on Sebastian's face. "You're going to google every 'Kurt' in Ohio now aren't you?"

"No." Blaine raised his eyebrow, unconvinced. "But I did consider it."

"You're not getting his last name," Blaine laughed.

"Fine," Sebastian grinned. "But Kurt's not here, I'm not seeing anyone, and my parents won't be home for a few hours. You know it's only a few blocks away."

"We broke up for a reason, Sebastian," Blaine tried to let him down gently. "It was great catching up, but I have to get going."

There were other people in New York Blaine could have seen but he really just wanted to be alone and get lost in the big city. He didn't miss any of the people from his old school but it was still nice to catch up with Sebastian and see that he really hadn't changed. Blaine had never really cared that much for Sebastian but he was a good kisser and they got along most of the time so they became boyfriends, even though they were vastly different people.

OoOoOoO

"Who's Kurt?" Cooper read the name on Blaine's phone from where he was sitting next to him in the lounge room of Stark Tower.

"No one. Just a guy from school," Blaine tried to put his phone away but Cooper was faster, snatching it from his brother's hands and scrolling through the message history.

"Just a guy?" Cooper raised his eyebrow disbelievingly. "There are a lot of messages here."

"Why is it so hard for you to believe that I made a friend?"

"It's not, it just seems that this guy's more than just a friend," Cooper smirked.

"So what if he is, what does it matter?" Blaine snapped.

"It doesn't… does Mom know?"

Blaine shook his head. "She knows we're friends."

Cooper nodded and grinned. "How long's it been since you dumped Sebastian? And you've already found someone else? It must be in our genes I guess."

"Shut up, Coop," Blaine grumbled and grabbed his phone back.

OoOoOoO

"Pass the gravy please," Meredith requested, breaking the silence at family dinner that night. Blaine passed it silently and continued picking sullenly at his dinner. Even Tony, who was usually bursting with babble, couldn't think of anything to talk about.

"So where did you go this afternoon, Blaine?" Meredith asked.

"I had coffee with Sebastian," Blaine muttered in reply. "He's still self-obsessed and hot, he hasn't changed."

"That's good," she nodded.

"Has he gotten over being dumped by a Stark yet?" Tony asked, only slightly awkwardly.

Blaine shrugged and chuckled, "I think the half dozen boyfriends he's had in the past month means he has."

In the silence that followed Blaine's mind drifted to Kurt and how nice it would be to live alone with Kurt in New York. Maybe after high school they could move here, Kurt certainly had the talent to get into one of the performing arts schools here.

"Ugh can we turn the TV on or something? This silence is horrible," Cooper complained.

Tony nodded in assent, "Jarvis, play channel–"

"No," Meredith cut him off, "we're all in the one room for the first time in months, so we are not watching TV."

"Then can we find something, _anything_ to talk about?" Cooper whined.

"Your Mom said something about a singing club at school, how's that going, Blaine?" Tony asked the first question that came to mind.

"Yeah glee club's good. We had a duet competition earlier this week, I don't know how we went yet though," Blaine wasn't happy with the focus of the conversation being on him.

"Who'd you sing with? Were they as good as you?" Tony questioned.

"I sang with Kurt, you met him at school. He was the guy I stopped from getting beaten up… twice," Blaine answered bitterly. "He's a better singer than me."

Cooper smirked at the slight change in Blaine's face when he was talking about Kurt. Blaine really liked this kid.

"Right, good," Tony nodded.

Blaine rolled his eyes and stared back down at his plate.

"So are you working on anything new, Dad?" Cooper asked, steering the conversation away from his obviously uncomfortable brother.

"I'm always working on something," Tony grinned. "I could use Blaine's help with it though."

"My help?" Blaine snorted.

"Yeah, I could use a fresh outlook on it. Maybe tomorrow we could work on it together?" he offered.

"Sure, what else am I going to do here?" Blaine shrugged.

Meredith was grinning from ear to ear, her plan was finally starting to work.

OoOoOoO

After dinner Blaine went down to the workshop to speak with his father.

"You were quite vague with what you needed help with," Blaine began. "Does it have anything to do with the Avengers?"

"It does," Tony didn't look up from what he was working on as he spoke. "I know I keep saying that I'm not going to sell the suit or make them for anyone else, but I do want to try to make one specifically for someone."

"And you want to make one for me?"

Tony looked up, "Yes. But I don't want anyone to know. Anyone from SHEILD would try to use it to recruit you and I don't think your mother would approve if she knew."

"Have you started it yet? And how different will it be from yours?" Blaine was curious about what he was getting himself into.

"I've started some of it but I need your measurements," Tony explained. "The rest you can find out tomorrow when we start working on it together."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Sorry about the wait on this chapter, life has been rather life-y and this chapter just didn't want to write itself. There isn't much Klaine in this one but plenty more coming up, I promise.**

**Chapter 9**

Blaine trudged down to Tony's workshop after a drowsy breakfast. Knowing he wouldn't be leaving the house he hadn't put any gel in his hair, his curls still sticking up at odd angles.

"Morning Blainers," Tony greeted him.

"Morning," he mumbled back.

"Sleep well?" Blaine shrugged in reply. "Come here and see what I've got so far."

Blaine walked over to the workbench his father was standing at and saw a mass of wires and metal in the rough shape of a person. He poked around at the beginnings of the suit and looked at the holographic blueprints on the wall above it.

"You've got a pretty good start," Blaine nodded. "How long have you been working on it?"

"On and off for a little while now," Tony shrugged. "I was thinking we'd start fitting it to your legs first?"

"Right," he yawned.

"Is this not exciting enough for you? I don't see how I could make it any more interesting."

"No, it's really interesting. I'm just not a morning person."

"Okay then, let's get started."

They had fitted one leg of the suit onto Blaine and started on the other one when they had a visitor at around lunchtime. Captain Steve Rogers entered the workshop and strode over to them.

"I thought you said you were the only person you would make a suit for?" Steve seemed confused by Blaine's presence.

"There are always exceptions," Tony reasoned.

"Nice to see you again, Blaine," Steve smiled, offering a hand to shake.

"You too, Capsicle – ouch!" Blaine shook Steve's hand and looked down at his father who had tightened something too far.

"That wasn't nice, Blaine," Tony scolded his son.

"So you thought you'd pinch my leg off?" Blaine snapped.

Tony shrugged sheepishly then turned to Steve. "Blaine's helping me build a prototype for another suit."

"Does SHEILD know?" Steve asked.

"Not exactly." Steve didn't look convinced by Tony's words. "They want me and Blaine to build it on their terms so they can recruit him. We're building it on our terms. Also, don't tell his Mom. She wouldn't approve."

Blaine chuckled darkly, "I don't think anyone would approve of me in an Iron Man suit."

"Why's that?" Steve asked.

"My record doesn't show me as the most responsible person," Blaine said bitterly. "I don't normally make a good impression with people."

"That's one interpretation," Tony mused. "I see most of your actions as very responsible, just taken a little too far sometimes." Blaine raised his eyebrow at his father. "Okay, maybe not 'most' or 'sometimes' but you know what you're doing, Blaine, and you know you're doing it for the right reasons."

"A strong sense of justice, eh?" Steve knew he was missing something but left it alone.

"You could say that saving people runs in the family," Tony agreed. Blaine remembered one of his first days at McKinley when he said those same words to Kurt. That was before anyone knew who his father was and before realised how much he liked Kurt. Blaine still wasn't used to liking Kurt, it had been a while since he had found a guy worthy of liking but Kurt just blew him away.

"So what did you come over here for, Cap?" Tony asked.

"I was going to see if you wanted to help make some adjustments on my Captain America suit but I can see you're busy," Steve explained.

"Well right now I am but if you come back later I can find you some time," Tony offered.

"I'll come back next week and see if you're less busy then," Steve offered.

"Blaine's here till Sunday so that should work," Tony nodded.

"Well it was great seeing you again, Blaine. Maybe I'll see you next time you visit," Steve held out his hand again.

"Yeah, you too," Blaine shook it.

Once Steve was earshot Tony spoke worriedly, "I really hope he doesn't let any of this slip to Fury or anyone. Steve's heart's in the right place but sometimes he can just be little too honest."

"Will it really be that bad if they find out? Won't they have to know eventually anyway?" Blaine questioned his father.

"I just don't want them to pressure you into anything," he explained. "And do you really want any more attention to do with this?"

"Fair enough," Blaine nodded. "And speaking of attention, I think the red and gold suit is way too attention grabbing. I want mine to be blue or something."

OoOoOoO

Sebastian must have spread the word about Blaine being back in New York because when he checked his phone after spending the day in his father's workshop he had messages from some of the people he called friends when he lived in New York, as well as a couple of messages from Kurt.

He replied to Kurt's texts but ignored the rest, they hadn't made any effort to speak to him since he moved and he didn't really care. He was fine without them and he planned on keeping it that way.

Apparently the family dinners were going to be a nightly thing while they were all staying in Stark Tower together. Tony and Cooper were already seated at the table when Blaine got to the dining room.

"I'm not going to bother asking where my invitation to spend the day in the workshop was," Cooper said, looking mock-hurt.

"You have never showed any interest in inventions before, I didn't want to hassle you with the invitation," Tony chuckled at his oldest son.

"I got the looks, not the brains – blame genetics," Cooper shrugged.

"That's for sure," Blaine muttered.

"What was that Blaine?" Meredith entered at an inopportune time.

"Nothing," he said hastily.

"Be nice to your brother," she scolded.

"Or what?" he questioned. "What can you do to punish me? You've already forced me to move to the most boring place in America, your 'family bonding time' doesn't seem to be working, and we both know that grounding me would solve nothing. I've got nothing to lose so there's nothing for you to hold over my head."

They all looked taken aback at his outburst. "Blaine," his mother said quietly, "please, just…" She trailed off as he stood up.

"Blaine," his father spoke more sternly, "sit down."

He ignored his father's requests and walked around to the elevator, out of their sight, to push the down button. He didn't know where he was going but he had to get out of there, had to leave the tower with the name he tried to ignore plastered across the side of it.

He stood out on the street for a moment, contemplating his options. He could find a coffee shop or restaurant to sit in until things cooled off, or he could go for a walk around the nearby park, but the two things he wanted to do the most were in the tower – his guitar and his punching bag were both upstairs.

Blaine had walked a block away but was still contemplating his options when his brother caught up to him.

"Blaine, wait up," Cooper called after him.

"Why?" he replied moodily.

"I get that you're pissed off or whatever but you can't just storm off whenever things get uncomfortable," Cooper tried to reason.

"I'm working on it, Coop," Blaine said tiredly. "I'm trying, but you know I'm not good at talking and feelings and stuff."

"Oh my little Blainers," Cooper said affectionately. "How did we ever end up like this?"

"I think it probably had something to do with our dad disappearing for months then coming back practically a superhero, our mother becoming distant and basically leaving us to fend for ourselves, and the world just generally hating us," Blaine answered bluntly. "And the time I got bashed and was in a coma probably helped it too."

"Well that's one way of looking at it," Cooper mused. "But think of it this way: there's a year and a bit until you're legally an adult, right?" Blaine nodded. "Then there's only a year and bit until you can stop worrying about our ridiculous family and be completely independent."

"A year and a bit is a long time," he said wearily.

"Then kill two birds with one stone and do stuff that makes time go faster and will keep Mom happy," Cooper suggested. "Join more clubs at school, put in the effort to make friends and spend time with them. They say time flies when you're having fun, why don't you test it out?"

"Mom was happier when I joined glee and when I started spending more time with Kurt…"

"There you go," Cooper grinned.

"I'll look into boxing at school when I go back I suppose," Blaine said resignedly. "And a few of the guys in glee seemed alright… But is no one going to congratulate me for not hitting that idiot on Wednesday? I do have some self-restraint."

"Good work Blainers," his brother smirked.

Blaine shoved his brother playfully and walked back into the Tower. Cooper followed him in with a look of victory on his face. "I'm not going back to dinner." They approached the elevator. "The gym's on the third floor isn't it?"

"Yeah," Cooper pressed the button for his brother and watched him get out and walk over to the punching bag, taking a few practise swings before disappearing into the changing room.

OoOoOoO

Blaine spent the rest of the evening in the gym, punching out his feelings and frustration. He went upstairs for a late night snack after he was sure everyone else would be asleep.

He assumed wrong, his father was still awake and caught him in the light of the refrigerator.

"I thought I'd find you here, you did miss dinner after all," Tony said lightly.

"Food is my only weakness," Blaine half-shrugged, still looking suspiciously at his father.

"Do you want to talk about your little outburst or will we just pretend it didn't happen?"

"Pretending it didn't happen seems like a good option," Blaine said.

"So how's the boxing going? I'm assuming that's where you went after Cooper talked to you," Tony tried to speak casually with his son.

"It's going pretty well, I'm going to see if there's a boxing team at school when I go back," Blaine matched his father's casual tone.

"That's great, I'd head off to bed if I were you," he suggested. "We've got another big day in the workshop tomorrow."

"Right," Blaine nodded. "I will after I finish eating."

"Goodnight Blaine," Tony patted his son on the shoulder. "Oh and I talked to Cooper, I'm proud of you for not hitting the guy the other day."

OoOoOoO

Blaine spent Saturday in the workshop with his father again and by the end of the day they had both legs of the suit fitted to Blaine. Family dinner on Saturday night was an awkward but uneventful affair and they spent Sunday morning packing to return to Ohio that afternoon.

The plane ride was quiet once again but Blaine felt like perhaps he had gotten something out of his few days away. He found out that SHIELD was looking at him for the Avengers initiative and he had begun making his own Iron Man suit, but he had also felt like he had grown as a person. Even in those few days he felt slightly more mature, and he felt closer to his brother and father. He didn't know how long these improved relationships would last for but he might as well enjoy them while he could.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

As much as Blaine was glad to be away from his family, he dreaded his return to McKinley. Fortunately the first morning of classes flew by without any hassle. On his way to third period English Blaine's day took a turn for the worse. He didn't realise what was happening at first when several jocks approached him in the hallway. His vision became blurred by the wave of ice and red food die. Kurt had warned him about the slushie facials but he thought his reputation may have protected him somewhat. He was wrong.

"Welcome to glee club, faggot," one of them called out.

Blaine could feel it dripping down his face and shirt, stinging and freezing his skin, but he wiped most of the slushie out of his eyes and before anyone knew what he was doing, he had the guy who called out pinned against the lockers, his arm twisted behind his back. He held it far enough to hurt but not far enough to dislocate his shoulder, Natasha had taught him some tricks over the years but his guy wasn't worth it.

The other jocks pulled Blaine off their friend and shoved him into the lockers opposite. Blaine braced himself for more retaliation but Kurt's concerned face in the crowd of gathered onlookers made him take the high road and walk away from the jocks, but not before taking one last swing at the boy closest to him.

Kurt caught up to him as he stormed off and allowed himself to be led into the nearest bathroom.

"I've copped a fair amount of slushies over the years. I've gotten pretty good at cleaning them up," Kurt guided him over to the sink and started mopping the ice off Blaine's shirt. "It's sort of a glee club tradition."

Blaine chuckled humourlessly, "Interesting tradition."

"It's not one we particularly enjoy," Kurt grabbed another piece of paper towel to clean Blaine's neck and face.

"It stings more than I thought it would," Blaine whined. "I thought it'd just be cold and wet but it's like _really_ cold and it stings a lot."

"I know," Kurt said sympathetically.

"You're really good at this," Blaine gestured towards Kurt's hands. "I hope it's not from all the practise you've had to have."

"It is," Kurt shrugged. "But it gave me a chance to make raincoats fashionable."

Kurt dabbed the paper towel gently around Blaine's face, being especially careful around the piercings on his eyebrow and lip.

"I probably would have stayed and either beat them up or let them beat me up if I hadn't seen you there," Blaine said quietly, avoiding Kurt's eyes.

"It's a good thing I was there then." Blaine's hand had found its way to the small of Kurt's back and was slowly moving further down. Kurt reached one hand back to gently nudge Blaine's hand further up his back.

Blaine stepped away from Kurt and scowled at the floor, leaning against another sink. "I'm sorry, Kurt. I'm not good at talking about things and I just – you have a really nice butt and I get distracted easily and – shit, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Blaine," Kurt soothed. "It's okay."

"It's not," Blaine shook his head. "But –uh– thanks."

Kurt decided by the awkward look on Blaine's face that a conversation change was needed. "The only way to get it out of your hair is to run it under the sink."

Blaine looked suspicious at first but leant his head forward and let Kurt's hands show him where to rest his head beneath the faucet.

Blaine enjoyed the sensation of Kurt's fingers gently massaging his scalp, removing all traces of slushie. He was mad at himself for making things uncomfortable for Kurt, and even madder that what he said was true – he wouldn't have given up on fighting those jocks if it wasn't for Kurt. He was proud of himself for opening up slightly but frustrated he couldn't say anything more.

"You realise you're missing English class for me?" Blaine asked.

"I don't mind," Kurt said simply as he finished washing ice out of Blaine's hair with his practised fingers. "I think that's all of it out."

Blaine stood up and ran a hand through his wet hair. "Thanks, Kurt," he smiled somewhat awkwardly.

"Any time," Kurt smiled back.

Blaine slipped his hand into Kurt's and laced their fingers together, he was better with physical gestures than with words. Kurt squeezed his hand comfortingly and looked up at Blaine's face. He was looking at their hands, his face full of thought and his teeth chewing slightly on his bottom lip.

Kurt leant his head into Blaine's shoulder and felt the other boy rest his head down on top of his own. Actions spoke a thousand words, and their current actions communicated the perfect balance of comfort, caring and concern that both boys needed.

They stayed in the bathroom, hidden from the world, until the bell signalling the start of the next period rang. Blaine brushed his lips against Kurt's in a fleeting goodbye kiss before leaving for his next class.

OoOoOoO

Blaine sat next to the tall Asian guy (whose name he'd found out was Mike) in their maths class. Mike looked slightly surprised at first, Blaine normally sat by himself in the back, but Mike gathered himself and smiled friendlily at Blaine.

"Hey Blaine," he said.

"Hi," Blaine replied, going through the social normalities. "Do you know if there's a boxing club or team or something here?"

"I don't think so," Mike said, thinking, "I could ask Coach Beiste about it for you if you wanted though?"

"Don't worry about it, thanks though," Blaine wasn't too disappointed, at least he'd tried.

"There are football, hockey, rugby and swim teams if you're into any of them," Mike suggested.

"Not really a fan of team sports," he shrugged. "And I'm not really that athletic either."

"That's too bad," Mike said then returned to his classwork. Blaine looked down at today's assignment as well, he was already taking the advanced maths class but it was still incredibly easy for him – just another perk of the Stark brains.

They worked in silence until Mike spoke again, "I heard about your slushie this morning, that sucks but we've all had them."

"I know," he nodded.

"The first one's always the worst, it's colder than you thought."

"It stung more too," Blaine agreed. "But Kurt was there to clean me up so it wasn't too bad."

"What's going on with you two anyway?" Mike asked curiously. "Everyone can tell there's something there."

"Well, um…" Blaine trailed off awkwardly, he didn't really know how to explain what was going on with him and Kurt. They sort of seemed like more than friends but knowing Blaine he would find a way to screw it up, or he would move too fast and scare Kurt off.

"Don't worry," Mike sensed Blaine's hesitation. "It's not my place to ask."

"No, it's okay," he didn't want Mike to feel bad about bringing it up, he was trying to make friends. "I just don't know really know where we stand at the moment."

Mike nodded and changed the subject. He glanced down at Blaine's work to see that he had already finished, while he himself still had a couple more questions to go. "You finished already?" Blaine looked at his work and nodded. "Wow."

Blaine shrugged. "I've always been good at maths," he hesitated before continuing, "it's an inherited trait."

"Lucky, I'm mediocre at best," Mike complained.

"I could help if you want," Blaine offered.

"I may have to take you up on that some time."

OoOoOoO

With Regionals approaching, the glee club meetings were happening daily and the bossy one who Blaine thought was named Rachel kept mentioning writing original songs for the competition. Blaine didn't really care what they sang, he still wasn't completely comfortable about performing for a big audience.

He spent most of Monday's rehearsal sitting beside Kurt in the back row, barely paying any attention to what was going on and tapping his tongue ring against his teeth. He never really said much anyway so he didn't think anyone would notice his disinterest.

Kurt did notice how distracted he was and spoke to him after the practise.

"You were really quiet in there, is everything okay?" he asked timidly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Blaine said unconvincingly.

Kurt pursed his lips, he didn't want to push Blaine but he could tell something was wrong. "You were doing that thing with your tongue stud and your teeth, you only do that when you're really bored or you're worrying about something."

Blaine sighed at the look on Kurt's face. "I'm fine, it doesn't matter."

"It does matter," Kurt insisted. "Is it about your weekend? Or getting slushied this morning?"

Blaine shrugged, avoiding Kurt's eyes, and mumbled, "both I guess."

"Do you want to ta–"

"No, just drop it," Blaine scowled at the floor and walked off to his locker. Kurt hesitated before following him.

"Okay, I'll drop it, but if you ever want to talk–"

"I know."

"So what do you think about Rachel's party?" Kurt changed to subject.

"What party?" Blaine took the bait.

"You really weren't paying attention were you?" Blaine glared at him. "Rachel's having a party this weekend, she thinks it'll help her song writing."

"It sounds alright," Blaine shrugged. "Maybe not the Rachel part, but parties are fun. You thinking of going?"

"Yeah I am," Kurt nodded. "Are you?"

"Maybe," he said indecisively.

"It'll be fun," Kurt tried to persuade him. "Everyone in glee's going."

"That's not really a convincing point," Blaine chuckled.

"I'll be there?" Kurt played to Blaine's weakness.

"That," he smirked, "is much better."

"So you'll come?"

"I'll think about it."

Kurt grinned, it was close enough. "Are you doing anything tonight?"

"I don't have anything planned. Do you want to come over?" Blaine invited.

"Sure," Kurt smiled.

As Kurt drove, they made small talk and Blaine couldn't help but think about how much had changed between them since the first time Kurt came over. When they first practised for their duet Blaine would barely have called Kurt a friend, now he was considering calling him his boyfriend. The car ride over had been awkward and nearly silent the first time but now they could find things to talk about easily. The main difference, Blaine realised, was the way he felt about Kurt. He was crazy about Kurt, he genuinely enjoyed spending time with him and the physical relationship they were starting to have was better than anything either of them had ever experienced.

Blaine had had other boyfriends before, and they had satisfied him physically but never shared anything close to what Kurt gave him emotionally and intellectually. It was almost too good to be true, having a friend who actually liked him for who he is and not who his father is, and having that friend be a boy was also gay and liked him in _that_ way.

They pulled into the driveway and Blaine reached for Kurt's hand, stroking the back of it with his thumb.

"Let's go inside," Blaine tried to keep the suggestiveness out of his voice.

"Is your Mom here?" Kurt enquired nervously.

"She's asleep, she's working early tomorrow." At the wary expression on Kurt's face Blaine tried to reassure him, "she's a heavy sleeper, don't worry about it."

Kurt nodded, not completely convinced but enough to follow Blaine inside and sit down beside him on the couch. Blaine smiled when he felt Kurt's warmth beside him and Kurt couldn't help smiling along. Blaine's smile was so beautiful and rare it was contagious to Kurt.

"So how was New York?" Kurt asked.

"It was fine, I still think it would have been better with you there," Blaine's tone remained casual but his hand was tracing its way up Kurt's thigh in a way that suggested he didn't invite Kurt over for small talk.

"It probably would have been kind of awkward, considering your parents have no idea who I am," Kurt smiled teasingly.

"I'm sure we can fix that quite easily," Blaine smirked.

"How would you introduce me?" Kurt's curiosity got the better of him. "Like, are we – are we dating?"

"If you want to be," Blaine grinned and kissed Kurt's lips gently. "I would introduce you as my beautiful, charming and witty boyfriend Kurt Hummel."

Kurt blushed and smiled, looking down at Blaine's hand still tracing shapes on his thigh. "I like the sound of that."

Blaine leaned his body closer to Kurt and gently pecked his lips against each of Kurt's blushing cheeks. "You're so damn cute when you blush," he whispered, trailing kisses down Kurt's jaw before reaching his lips again.

Kurt deepened the kiss, opening his mouth and bringing their bodies closer together. He ran one hand down Blaine's back and tangled the other in his hair, thankful the gel in Blaine's hair got washed out with the slushie.

Kurt's tongue lingered on Blaine's lip ring and he moved his lips down Blaine's neck, filling his nose with Blaine's scent and familiarising himself with it.

Blaine's hands were not idle, sliding down Kurt's back to untuck his button-up then fumbling to unbutton it from the bottom up.

Blaine started tugging on the hem of his own t-shirt and Kurt pulled back for a moment to help him remove it, flinging it haphazardly onto the floor.

Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt, bringing their bare chests together and enjoying the feeling of closeness between them. Kurt slid his hands over Blaine's back as the other boy started kissing and sucking on his neck in a way that made Kurt let out a small contented moan.

Blaine flinched as Kurt's hands found the scar on the left side of his ribs. Not wanting to bring attention to it he gently directed Kurt's hands lower down his back and continued with his teasing of Kurt's neck, sucking and nipping just hard enough to leave a mark.

They were vaguely aware of the sound of a door opening but too distracted as they shifted to bring their bodies closer together. Kurt's whimper of enjoyment as Blaine rolled his tongue stud over the mark he was leaving caused a gasp, not from Blaine, but from Meredith. Kurt raised his head and saw Blaine's mother for the first time. She had one hand over her mouth in awkwardness and shock and she was in her pyjamas, her hair tousled with sleep.

Kurt slipped out from underneath Blaine's arms and pulled his shirt closed over his chest, blushing and trying to look as apologetic as possible. Blaine had no such shame and stretched out on the couch, sliding an arm around Kurt's shoulder and smirking.

"Mom, this is Kurt," Blaine introduced, "my beautiful, charming and witty boyfriend."

"Hello Kurt," Meredith said friendlily, finding the situation just as awkward as Kurt was.

"Hello Ms Anderson," he replied respectfully.

Meredith shook her head to clear it, "I'm going back to sleep, please don't wake me again." It was times like these that Blaine was glad his mother was never strict on him.

The door had barely closed behind his mother before Blaine had his lips back on Kurt's neck.

"Wait, Blaine, stop," Kurt pushed him gently away.

Blaine looked up at his boyfriend with his big puppy-dog eyes. "What?"

"Your Mom kind of killed the mood, sorry," Kurt said quietly.

"I could try to bring it back?" Blaine offered, trailing his fingers up Kurt's abdomen.

"No, it's okay… if that's okay with you?"

"It's fine," Blaine nodded. "I don't want to do anything you don't want to."

"Good," Kurt smiled. "You've already made a good enough mark I think anyway."

Blaine admired his handiwork on Kurt's neck, grinning. "Sometimes I can make them into shapes."

Kurt chuckled and shook his head, "Of course you can."

"It's a talent," Blaine smirked.

"It's definitely not your only talent." Blaine quirked an eyebrow at his boyfriend, who looked down, then back up when he realised that Blaine was still shirtless. "We're going to have to do this more often."

"My thoughts exactly," he grinned.

"But maybe without the little 'interruption'?" Kurt laughed

"I really thought she'd sleep through it, she's normally a pretty heavy sleeper," Blaine glanced to the door that lead to his mother's bedroom. "She sleeps through if I'm playing guitar or boxing or whatever at night."

"You're a boxer?"

"Sort of," Blaine shrugged. "I took it up to learn to defend myself after… uh, a while ago." He avoided looking at Kurt, as close as they'd become he still wasn't ready to talk about why he had his scar and the reason he took up boxing.

Kurt was tempted to ask, but didn't want to push Blaine any further. "I knew those muscles came from something," he smirked, running his finger gently up and down the other boy's bicep.

Blaine shivered slightly and his face split into a grin.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Blaine hated having to refrain from touching Kurt at school, but from the stories he'd heard from Kurt, the slushie he had already copped, and his own previous experience, he knew it would be better to keep the PDA to a minimum in order to avoid trouble from his narrow minded classmates.

All caution was left behind in glee club, however, as they entered the choir room together with their hands entwined. Blaine noticed Kurt's friends grinning at them and he hoped that was a sign they approved of their relationship, it would be nice if there were at least some people who supported them.

They sat in their usual seats in the back, dropping their hands but sitting so that their knees were touching, maintaining the gentle physical contact. Kurt adjusted his collar and Blaine glimpsed the red mark he'd left on his neck the night before. He smirked, wondering who else had noticed it throughout the day.

Mr Schue entered and began the lesson, trying to get them to brainstorm 'anthems' for regionals. Blaine was too busy tracing his fingers along Kurt's thigh, reminding him of the night before and seeing how long he could do it before the other boy blushed or swatted his hand away. It was too bad if Kurt wanted to think of ideas, Blaine was having far too much fun distracting his boyfriend.

It was strange for Blaine to call Kurt his boyfriend, he was so different from the guys that had previously had that title. His relationships his previous boyfriends had been mainly physical, with just enough faked emotion to keep the other guy happy. And that was why it was so different with Kurt, Blaine actually shared an emotional connection with Kurt, he actually liked Kurt for more than just physical reasons.

Unfortunately Mr Schue called them out on their inattention. "Kurt, Blaine, do you have any suggestions?" he asked.

"Um, no, I can't really think of anything," Kurt answered, blushing slightly at being called on.

"Neither," Blaine said disinterestedly.

"May I bring the idea of doing original songs up again?" Rachel butted in, then without waiting for a response she continued. "I can't think of a better anthem than something we wrote ourselves. I'm working on my song writing and to help it I'd like to remind you all of the party I'm having this weekend which I hope you can all attend."

"Thank you Rachel, but I think we'll look for more anthems for a bit longer," Mr Schuester politely declined her idea.

Blaine took advantage of the focus being drawn away from them and resumed his tender tracing of Kurt's thigh.

He enjoyed gently teasing Kurt but his fingers stilled when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, alerting him of a text message. He pulled it out of the pocket of his jeans to read it.

Tony: _How big are your hands? I'm working on the gloves of your suit._

Blaine gritted his teeth and tensed his jaw, his father knew he would be at school. Not that he would admit it, but Blaine actually quite enjoyed working on his suit with his father. He did not, however, enjoy being reminded of it while he stuck at school in Lima.

Blaine: _You know I'm at school, how am I supposed to know how big my hands are?_

Tony: _They don't have rulers at school?_

Blaine ignored his father's sarcastic quip and tried to focus back on the glee lesson. Kurt noticed his boyfriend's tension and reached over to squeeze his hand comfortingly. Blaine squeezed back half-heartedly, making Kurt start to worry.

When the bell signalling the end of the period rang, Blaine was out of the classroom before anyone could notice, hoping Kurt would get swept up by his friends who were curious about their new relationship.

Sam caught up to him at his locker, much to Blaine's annoyance.

"What do you want, Evans?" he snapped.

"Hey man, I'm sorry about last week," Sam apologised.

Blaine was taken aback by the apology, it was the last thing he was expecting. "Uh, right…"

"I shouldn't have said those things I said and I didn't get a chance to apologise until now," Sam said regretfully. "So, I'm sorry."

Blaine nodded, not quite sure what to say. He was still a little bit mad at Sam but his apology sounded sincere enough. "I surprisingly enjoyed my suspension," he shrugged. "It's all good, man."

"Thanks." Sam nodded and smiled at Blaine before disappearing off to his own locker.

Kurt watched Sam go, eyeing him curiously as he walked over to his boyfriend.

"What did he want?"

"To apologise for last week," Blaine explained.

"Good," Kurt nodded. "Who were you texting in glee? You seemed kind of upset."

"It was my Dad," Blaine answered. "He –uh– he needed some help with something." What he and his father were working on was a secret, Blaine was used to having secrets and this was one he definitely wanted to keep.

Kurt was getting used to being able to sense when Blaine was keeping something from him and didn't want to talk about it. He understood that Blaine had many secrets that he probably may never know, but Blaine was slowly opening up to him and he would talk to him in his own time. He needed to show Blaine that he cared, and that he wouldn't forget about him once the novelty wore off.

"Do you want to come over or do something tonight?" Kurt asked.

"Not tonight," Blaine declined. "I've got homework and stuff, and I was going to do some boxing." Blaine really enjoyed spending time with his new boyfriend, but the messages from his father combined with the paranoia that someone was going to do something to him or Kurt had left him in a bad mood. All he wanted to do was go home and box out his frustration alone. "Maybe tomorrow, or this weekend?"

"Sure," Kurt forced a smile.

Blaine glanced around to see if anyone was looking before giving Kurt a farewell kiss.

OoOoOoO

Blaine didn't know why the texts from his father had upset him so much. Maybe it was his father's ignorance that he'd forgotten his son was at school, or maybe it was that the message reminded him of the life he could be living. He could be living in Stark Tower with his father, and as much as they disagreed, Blaine got on a lot better with Tony than with his mother most of the time. He could have been building his own Iron Man suit in one of the best labs in the country, and instead when he got the message he was sitting in a high school choir room in Lima.

Blaine dealt with these feelings the way he always did, by taking it out on his punching bag. The steady pounding of his fists against the bag helped to clear his head, and imagining whoever was annoying him the most at the moment's face on the bag stopped him from hitting their real face. He knew he had self-control issues but he hoped the boxing helped.

His other outlet was music, sometimes finding the right song helped in huge ways. Blaine's iPod was playing on shuffle from a speaker as he hit the punching bag and he was singing along as usual. He paused when one particular song came on that had both the epic feel for regionals and the right words to sum up his feelings.

"_Life's too short to even care at all, whoa…_"

Blaine performed it for the glee club the next day, his first solo since he auditioned.

"_I'm losing my mind, losing my mind, losing control. These fishes in the sea they're staring at me, whoa. Wet world aches for a beat of a drum, whoa._"

Kurt watched his boyfriend perform, seeing the emotion in his eyes that only came when he was singing.

"_If I could find a way, to see this straight I'd run away, to some fortune that I should have found by now. I'm waiting for this cough syrup, to come down, come down._"

Blaine had never been very good at dancing so he just held the microphone stand and moved his body to the beat as he listened to the guitar riff before the second verse.

"_Life's too short to even care at all, whoa. I'm coming up now, coming up now, out of the blue, oh. These zombies in the park they're looking for my heart, whoa. And dark world aches for a splash of the sun, whoa._"

Kurt didn't know what anyone else would think about the song but there was no denying that Blaine was amazing. The intensity and emotion in his voice was captivating.

"_If I could find a way to see this straight I'd run away, to some fortune that I should have found by now, and so I run now to the things they say could restore me, restore life the way it should be, waiting for this cough syrup, to come down._"

Blaine visibly relaxed his tensed body as he sung the last line with a hauntingly beautiful quality to his voice.

"_One more spoon of cough syrup now, whoa…_"

The glee club applauded him and Blaine returned to his seat beside Kurt, who placed an arm around him and squeezed comfortingly.

"That was great, Blaine," Mr Schue commended. "It's definitely a contender, but let's keep looking."

OoOoOoO

Finn approached Blaine in the locker rooms after their shared gym period.

"So you and Kurt are officially dating now?" he asked.

"Yeah," Blaine nodded warily. Finn gave off a weird, almost hostile vibe to Blaine.

"As both Kurt's brother and a member of the glee club, I need to warn you that if you do anything to hurt him, you'll have me to answer to, as well as most of the rest of the glee club."

"I don't plan on hurting Kurt," Blaine said, his jaw tensed.

"Good," Finn replied curtly.

Blaine turned back to his locker and continued changing, stripping his shirt off and shoving it into his bag. He had his clean shirt in hands when he turned around at Finn's gasp.

"What?" he snapped.

"The scar on your back," Finn tried to regather his composure.

"What about it?" Blaine asked defensively, pulling his shirt on and folding his arms across his chest.

"It's really big." Blaine rolled his eyes. "What's it from?"

"Something," Blaine said vaguely, shutting his locker door.

"I just don't want any trouble for Kurt," Finn eyed Blaine suspiciously.

"And I look like trouble?" It wasn't the first time someone had said something like that to Blaine.

"Your history doesn't help," Finn persuaded.

"You have no idea," Blaine chuckled dryly before his expression became more serious. "I don't want to hurt Kurt, and you've gotten your threat across."

"Good," Finn nodded, considered Blaine once more, then returned to his own locker.

OoOoOoO

"Finn gave me the 'if you hurt Kurt you'll have me and the glee club to answer to' speech this morning," Blaine dropped down beside Kurt at his table at lunch.

"I'm sorry about him, he can be kind of overprotective of me sometimes," Kurt apologised for his step-brother.

"I think I can handle him," Blaine smirked. "I've had worse."

"Good," Kurt smiled slightly, "But my Dad'll be way worse once you meet him."

Blaine chewed on his bottom lip, "I don't tend to make good first impressions, but I don't know if I could beat the first time my Mom met you."

Kurt blushed at the memory, "My Dad's more protective than Finn, but he's easier to sway."

"I have enough trouble with my own father, I don't really want to have to worry about yours as well," Blaine said gruffly.

"Then we won't worry about that for a while," Kurt compromised.

Blaine sighed and looked down at his food. "So what'd you think of my number for glee club today?"

"You were amazing, as usual," Kurt grinned, glad of the change in subject.

"It came on when I was boxing last night and it just felt so perfect," Blaine explained. "Mr Shue seemed to like it too."

"Of course he liked it, you were fantastic," he agreed. "When you're singing something like that, the way you lose yourself in the music is so intense and just incredible."

"I'll have to sing more often if you're going to be this nice to me," Blaine laughed.

"I'll be even nicer to you if you come to Rachel's party this weekend," Kurt smirked. "It's going to be so boring without you."

"Then why don't we both blow it off and spend the night at my place? Mom won't take much convincing to get out of the house for the night," Blaine said suggestively.

"But the whole glee club's going," Kurt argued, ignoring how good Blaine's invitation sounded. "There'll be alcohol and it'll be a really good bonding experience for the club." Blaine didn't look convinced. "Come on, please, for me," Kurt gave Blaine his best puppy-dog eyes.

"I'll think about it," he shrugged, avoiding his boyfriend's eyes. "You're not going to win me over by mentioning the people in glee, though the alcohol does sound quite inviting…"

Kurt beamed at his small victory.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I've had this chapter written for a while and its my favourite one of this story, it's barely changed since I wrote it and I just really like it. I'll try to keep up with the Tuesday updates, I've got the next few chapters written so updates should be regular. I can't believe the story alerts for this is over 100, thanks so much everyone for reading. But anyway, enjoy this chapter which was largely inspired by my favourite episode of Season 2 - Blame it On the Alcohol.**

**Chapter 12**

Somehow Kurt finally managed Blaine to come to Rachel's party. He was strongly opposed to social interaction with most of the glee club members who would be there but the promise of alcohol was too good to resist. Blaine didn't drink often but when he did he enjoyed drinking away his sorrows.

Blaine spent the beginning of the evening glaring at Sam and Finn from across the room, even though the first boy had apologised. He was just generally being surly until he finally started drinking. Kurt refused to drink, claiming the title of Designated Driver.

He was starting to loosen up and the alcohol was taking effect when someone suggested a game of spin the bottle. Sure he was dating Kurt but what harm could a little spin the bottle do, especially if they both played.

After a few rounds of oddly matched kisses the bottle finally landed on Blaine. "Blaine Anderstark, I'm gonna rock your world," Rachel slurred at him. Blaine was gay as the Fourth of July but the alcohol and excitement of the game made their kiss almost enjoyable, though Rachel seemed to enjoy it a lot more than he did.

Kurt looked slightly hurt from across the circle but before he could dwell on it Rachel was talking again, "Blaine, Blaine, Blaine! You have to sing with me! Come on!" She led him up to the stage and thrust a microphone into his hands as the opening bars of 'Don't You Want Me Baby' started playing.

Blaine was drunk enough not to care about singing in front of these people he barely knew and didn't really like, but still aware enough to put on a good performance.

Rachel was a good singer and they sounded pretty good together but Blaine just wanted to get back to Kurt, the spotlight was starting to make him anxious – maybe he just needed to drink some more.

He grabbed another drink and made his way back over to Kurt who was dancing near Finn.

"Isn't it cool that you and Finn are, like, brothers?" Blaine slung an arm around Finn, having to reach up due to the height difference. "I mean, I've got a brother, he's kind of tall too but you seem like a better brother than him – but you're like, brothers!"

"How much have you had to drink, Blaine?" Kurt asked, half amused and half concerned.

"I dunno," Blaine shrugged. "A bit, maybe a lot."

"Maybe you should stop now?" Kurt laughed, gently trying to tug the bottle out of Blaine's hands. Blaine pulled it out of Kurt's reach and sucked on it, looking remarkably like a child, even with his piercings and stubble. "Okay, maybe no more after this one?"

"Maybe…" Blaine trailed off, distracted by the sight of his tongue ring. He was looking cross-eyed down at his poked-out tongue. Suddenly he put his tongue back in his mouth and widened his eyes. "I should take my shirt off."

"Why?" Kurt had never seen Blaine act so strangely, it's funny what a bit (or a lot) of alcohol could do.

"Because it's not fair that you're the only one who's seen me topless!" Blaine said, a little too loud for Kurt's liking. "Well, except for Finn the other day in the locker room."

"How is that not fair?" Kurt was amused and confused.

"It's not fair to hide my Stark genes beneath all of these clothes and I think there's some law about wearing pants so… you should take your shirt off too!" Blaine lifted his shirt over his head, only getting stuck for a moment.

"I don't think so," Kurt said, folding Blaine's shirt up and putting it somewhere safe.

Kurt could swear he heard Blaine mumble something that sounded like "party pooper" but he was too distracted by Blaine turning around and revealing the long scar along the left side of his ribs.

"Blaine, what's that along your back?" Kurt gasped, guiding Blaine away from where he was going to get more alcohol and towards somewhere to sit down.

"My scar?" Blaine turned to look at it like a dog chasing its tail.

"Yeah, your scar," Kurt said gently, "what's it from?"

Blaine's eyebrows knitted together in thought. "Did you ever wonder why I stopped those guys from beating you up those times?" Kurt nodded slowly. "It's because I've been there, Kurt. I've been the guy who gets shoved into lockers every day. I've been the gay guy who gets beat up for being different."

Kurt was surprised at how open Blaine was being and how sober he sounded. "So someone – someone did that to you?" Kurt was aghast, sure his bullies were always taunting him but they wouldn't take it that far.

"At a dance at one of my old schools, I don't remember which one but I was living with Mom and Coop. Dad was in Afghanistan so it must have been pre-Iron Man. I had just come out and some guys beat the living crap out of me and my date, the only other out guy I knew." Blaine stared at Santana doing body shots out of Brittany's belly button for a moment before continuing. "5 broken ribs, nearly punctured my lung, a broken arm and a mild concussion. I was in a coma for nearly a week."

"Oh Blaine, that's horrible," Kurt was piecing together everything he knew about Blaine and it was starting to make sense. It wasn't fair that someone should have to suffer through all of that.

"Yeah it kind of sucked," Blaine said thoughtfully, then the seriousness fell away and his drunken grin returned. Blaine leaned in close to Kurt and whispered in his ear, "Let's go find somewhere to make out."

"Not like this, you're too drunk," Kurt was still overwhelmed by all the new information about Blaine and the smell of alcohol on his breath was a definite turn-off.

'Fiiiiiiiiiiiine," Blaine whined. "But you're going to have to make it up for me."

"Okay, I will," Kurt promised. "Oh look here comes Rachel, she's a wonderfully timed distraction."

"Hey guys," Rachel grinned. "How are you? Kurt you're so lucky, Blaine's a great kisser."

"That's great, Rachel," Kurt said sarcastically.

"Kurt! We should get matching nipple rings!" Blaine decided. "I've been meaning to get mine done for ages and how cool would it be to get them done together?"

"I don't think so, honey," Kurt said gently, "maybe when you're sober."

"Getting piercings sober is so boring though," Blaine slurred and Kurt tried not to think about what Blaine meant by that.

"We should play spin the bottle again!" Rachel exclaimed, looking around at her guests, all in various states of drunkenness. "Finn!" she called out to him. "Come here, you want to play spin the bottle again don't you?"

Finn walked over to them and replied, "I'm thinking about heading home, I think Santana and Brittany passed out."

"That sounds like a good idea, Blaine could be pretty close to passing out himself," Kurt agreed.

Blaine was staring at his tongue ring again but looked up when he heard his name. "Me? I've only passed out twice before and it was after way more to drink than this. I could keep partying for _hours_," he said. "I have a belly button, Kurt! Look at it!" he was poking it and smiling goofily up at Kurt.

"It's a lovely belly button. Come on, let's go home," Kurt stood up, grabbing Blaine's hand and shirt and helping him up. Blaine patted his pockets for his keys before Kurt stopped him. "There is no way you're driving home. You can come home with me and Finn."

"'Kay," he grinned.

Blaine fell asleep in the car on the short drive home and it took much convincing to wake him up enough to get him inside. He collapsed on top of Kurt's bed at the first sight of it. Kurt just smiled fondly at the side of Blaine he never saw, the carefree and happy side.

OoOoOoO

"Where am I?" Blaine mumbled as he awoke with a pounding headache to an unfamiliar voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry, my bad…" Blaine heard the man say as he awkwardly retreated from the room.

Blaine flopped his face back down onto the pillow. As he inhaled the familiar scent he realised he was in Kurt's bedroom – in Kurt's bed to be precise.

"You're awake, sleepy head," Kurt grinned, making Blaine's head throb worse.

Blaine groaned, "shh not so loud."

Kurt laughed and sat down beside him on the bed. "You were pretty drunk last night."

"I know," Blaine rubbed his face in an attempt to wake up. "I'm pretty hung over right now too… was that your Dad that came in?"

"Yeah, this may take some explaining," Kurt said, his face full of thought.

"This wasn't exactly how I was hoping to meet your Dad but knowing me it could have been worse, maybe it was good that I was only half conscious," Blaine mused.

"Let's try it again with you fully conscious, we're going downstairs for breakfast," Kurt began pulling the covers off Blaine but Blaine's groaning and tight grip made him pause and rethink his strategy. "Come on, there's eggs waiting for you."

"Mmm food," Blaine's eyes were still closed as he mumbled happily, maintaining his hold keeping the covers up. "You know what'd be better than food?"

"What would that be?" Kurt played along.

"You," Blaine smirked.

"Yeah?" Kurt leant in closer to Blaine, watching the other boy's eyes light up as he got closer. Using Blaine's distraction to his advantage, Kurt pulled the covers off of Blaine and stood up off the bed.

"Hey!" Blaine shouted in protest, wincing at the loudness of his own voice. "You little tease."

"I'm going down to breakfast," Kurt said, throwing Blaine's clothes at him, "join me?"

Blaine yawned and stretched, "I'll be down soon."

"You going to explain this?" Burt was waiting for Kurt in the kitchen.

"He was drunk and couldn't drive home, I was doing the responsible thing by letting him stay over."

"In your bed?" Burt asked disapprovingly.

"We were both clothed the whole time," Kurt defended.

Burt sighed and shook his head, "Where is he now?"

"He's upstairs, he's coming down for breakfast soon."

As if on cue Blaine appeared in the doorway, still tousle-haired, squinting slightly and looking very hung over.

"Morning, Mr Hummel," he said as respectfully as he could.

"Morning Blaine," Burt said, almost all of the tension out of his voice. "You can call me Burt."

Blaine nodded and looked to Kurt for direction.

"Why don't you have a seat, Blaine," Kurt suggested. Blaine sat down, eager to avoid awkwardly standing around and getting in the way.

"So how do you like Lima, Blaine?" Burt tried to make small talk. "Has your family settled in yet?"

"Uh, yeah it's alright. It's pretty quiet but I suppose that's nice," Blaine tried to think clearly through the pounding in his head. "It's just me and my Mom here so we've settled in alright I think."

"That's good," Burt nodded.

"It smells great," Blaine said as Kurt brought the plates of eggs in.

After a breakfast filled with awkward silences and even more awkward small talk Blaine and Kurt returned to Kurt's bedroom. Blaine flopped down onto the bed and smothered his face with a pillow.

"Who let me drink last night?" he moaned.

"You did?" Kurt remembered Blaine being very enthusiastic about drinking.

"I'm an idiot, I barely even remember what happened. Did I kiss Rachel or sing with her?"

"Both," Kurt laughed then nudged the pillow off Blaine's face and his expression turned more serious. "And you also told me some… stuff."

"Stuff?" Blaine sat up.

"You tried to convince me to get a nipple ring with you, and you told me that getting piercings done sober was boring."

"Oh, yeah," Blaine chuckled. "I have been thinking about a nipple ring. I don't remember getting my lip or my eyebrow done, I just woke up with them after a couple of nights out. I was sober for my tongue though."

"That wasn't all you told me," he decided to say what he originally meant. "You also told me about the scar on your ribs and how you got it."

"Oh," Blaine said thoughtfully. "Well, now you know that then."

"Do you remember telling me?"

"No, but I'm assuming I just listed my injuries?" Kurt nodded. "Then what more is there to say?"

"I don't know, nothing I suppose."

Blaine nodded. "Well, I should get home in case those eggs decide to come back up."

"Do you want a ride?" Kurt offered.

"Nah, I'm good," Blaine shook his head and brushed his lips against Kurt's forehead before leaving. "See you at school."

"See you," Kurt said after him.

Blaine didn't mean to leave so suddenly but the hangover combined with the uncomfortable topic of conversation made him want to leave. He hated talking about his past, now it seemed he could only do it drunk.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Blaine was still slightly hung over at school on Monday morning but that was nothing compared to the rest of the glee club.

A vast majority of the members of glee were in sunglasses and wincing throughout the day whenever Blaine saw them – he couldn't blame them, they were _very_ drunk on Saturday night, but so was he.

"Figgins wants us to perform songs about drinking for the Alcohol Awareness Week assembly," Mr Schuester announced in glee club. The collective eye-roll from the club was almost audible.

"How are you not still hung over, Blaine?" Mike asked him once Mr Schue had finished speaking.

"I'm used to it, I suppose," he shrugged. "I was kind of a mess yesterday though."

"I don't think I'll ever get used to it," Mike said.

Blaine shrugged and checked the incoming message on his phone. His father had been texting him more and more recently, enquiring about different things for the suit and attempting to convince him to spend some time in New York. Blaine didn't understand why his father wanted to finish his suit so badly but he also didn't understand why he was so hesitant to work on it again.

Sure Blaine and his father had been able to work on the suit together without too much argument but Blaine wouldn't be able to forget the time they spent rebuilding that car, his father's attempt at turning him straight. There were plenty of bad memories from working on projects with his father and he wasn't keen to make any more.

He replied to his father, declining yet again the visit to New York, and returned his attention to glee club. Kurt had an excited look on his face but Tina beat Blaine to asking him why he looked like an enthusiastic puppy.

"I have the perfect song for Alcohol Awareness Week," he grinned.

"What song?" Tina asked.

"You'll see," Kurt replied mysteriously. "I don't want to ruin the surprise."

"I can't weasel it out of you some way?" Blaine smirked at him, his voice hinting at the suggestion of what he could do to convince Kurt to tell him.

"You'll find out tomorrow," he said, ignoring the way Blaine was giving him bedroom eyes.

"I have no idea what I'm going to pick. I guess I'll just try to find someone who does have an idea and sing back up for them," Tina shrugged. "What about you, Blaine?"

"I think I may have an idea," he said thoughtfully, "but if Kurt's not sharing then neither am I."

"I'm sure it'll be great whatever it is," Tina smiled. Blaine shrugged in response.

OoOoOoO

"Blaine, I'm not telling you what I'm singing," Kurt laughed at the pout on his boyfriend's face. "You can wait until tomorrow to hear it just like everyone else."

"You can't be _persuaded_?" Blaine's voice dropped to a husky and inviting tone on his last word.

"No, I can't," Kurt said, avoiding eye contact with Blaine. "And if you're going to sit there and pout at me you can go home, I should probably practise..."

Blaine stood up and shrugged, "alright, I guess I should go and practise my own song."

"Blaine, honey, I was kidding," Kurt reached over to take his boyfriend's hand in his own. "You're adorable when you pout."

"Honey?" Blaine smirked as the other boy started to blush. "That's a new one."

"Sorry, it just sort of slipped out," Kurt's cheeks grew redder as he apologised for the pet name.

"Ah well, I'll just have to think of some payback," Blaine grinned. "How does muffin butt sound? Or perhaps twinkle tush?"

"I think you're the muffin butt," Kurt said, pulling him closer and running his hand over said butt.

"Twinkle tush it is then," Blaine closed the distance between them with a short, teasing kiss. "But alas, my twinkle tush had a point when he said I should go home." It was Kurt's turn to pout this time and his face fell at Blaine's words. "Practise so you can blow everyone away tomorrow, and I'll go home and start putting something together."

"Fine," Kurt smiled. "See you tomorrow."

"See you at school, Twinkle Tush," Blaine winked before leaving his boyfriend alone, waving to Burt as he passed through the house.

OoOoOoO

"So can I know yet?" Blaine asked. They were sitting in their third period English class and it was the first time they had time to speak that morning.

"I'm sure you can wait just a little bit longer," Kurt smiled teasingly. Blaine's pout returned and Kurt patted his hand. "You'll live."

"It'll be worth it," Blaine said, his smirk beginning to return from beneath the pout.

"I hope so," Kurt nodded. "It's been so long since I've had a solo in glee."

"You easily have the best voice in there," Blaine grinned. "Did I tell you I nearly forgot to sing in our duet? I just wanted to listen to you."

Kurt blushed at the compliment and his smile grew wider. "You're building the suspense up way too much," he chuckled.

OoOoOoO

"So do we finally get to hear what you're singing, Kurt?" Tina asked as they entered the choir room together.

"You're building it up way too much," Kurt sighed, "but yes."

Blaine entered from the opposite side of the room and called over to them. "I've been looking forward to this all day Twinkle Tush, it's your time to shine," he smirked.

"Twinkle Tush?" Tina giggled.

Blaine vaguely noticed a glare from Finn but walked over to Kurt with a grin in place. "I think we're all finally over our collective hangovers so it's time for something good to happen this week."

Mr Schue made his grand entrance and began to claim the attention of the club. Blaine took his seat next to Kurt and, surprisingly, felt someone sit down beside him. One glance beside him showed that it was Rachel Berry, the annoying, loud, short and extremely talented lead vocalist of the New Directions.

Blaine didn't speak to her but she didn't seem to notice his confusion at her presence. "I think we should seriously consider repeating our rendition of 'Don't You Want Me' for Sectionals seeing as my idea for doing original songs has been shot down yet again," she spoke very quickly and with great purpose. Blaine noticed Finn looking annoyed at her talking to him but she powered on. "I think your fresh new energy is great for the club and our voices sound amazing together, so we should definitely be featured."

Before Blaine could fathom a response, Mr Schue addressed the group. "I've been hearing some pretty good ideas for Alcohol Awareness Weeks so far but I think we should keep thinking. Kurt, you said you had something prepared?"

"I sure do," Kurt smiled and stood in the centre of the room, the smile on his face showing how much he belonged in front of the audience.

The guitar riff started and Blaine instantly recognised the song.

"_I wanna be drunk when I wake up, on the right side of the wrong bed, and every excuse I made up, tell you the truth I hate, what didn't kill me, it never made me stronger at all._"

Kurt's voice was as beautiful as ever and Blaine tried to make sense of the fact that this boy was his. Blaine made a mental note to get him to sing more often.

"_Love will scar your make-up, lip sticks to me, so now I'll maybe leave back there, I'm sat here wishing I was sober, I know I'll never hold you like I used to._

_But our house gets cold when you cut the heating, Without you to hold I'll be freezing, Can't rely on my heart to beat it, 'Cause you take part of it every evening, Take words out of my mouth just from breathing, Replace with phrases like when you're leaving me._"

Blaine's mouth fell into a surprised grin – Kurt's voice was amazingly sexy as he sang fast and low, faster and lower than he thought possible for him.

"_Should I, should I? Maybe I'll get drunk again, I'll be drunk again, I'll be drunk again, To feel a little love._"

Kurt smiled shyly before continuing with beautiful power, his voice so strong Blaine would have to think of dying puppies to avoid any awkwardness in his southern regions.

"_All by myself, I'm here again, All by myself, You know I'll never change, All by myself, All by myself, I'm just drunk again, I'll be drunk again, I'll be drunk again, To feel a little love."_

If there was any doubt that the song didn't suit his voice it was gone by the end of the song. Blaine gave a standing ovation and a few members joined him, all of them applauding loudly.

Blaine didn't notice what Mr Schuester had to say about the song, he was too enthralled by the boy sitting beside him.

He and Kurt shared a grin and Kurt could tell that the mystery and build up surrounding the song was worth it, they loved it even if Mr Schue didn't think it was appropriate to perform at the assembly.

The only thing that could bring Blaine's mood down was his father, and that was exactly what happened. Blaine was about to leave the choir room with Kurt when his phone started ringing. He told Kurt to go on without him and hit answer.

Blaine was tired of the stilted conversations they were having through texts and he was almost glad his father decided to call him.

"Hello?" Blaine answered, his jaw tense.

"_Hey Blainers_," Tony said, far more cheerfully than his son. "_I'm glad you finally decided to answer my calls._"

"You caught me in a good mood."

Tony chuckled, "_It doesn't sound like it_."

"Well you're great at changing my mood," Blaine said.

"_I don't think I'll ever understand you, Blaine. You seemed so keen to come to New York last time, and now every time I mention it you're making excuses not to. What gives?_"

"After the disaster that was my last visit I thought it would be obvious. Mom still looks like she hates me, and I've barely spoken to Cooper since I last saw him," Blaine was frustrated his father couldn't see that their family had fallen apart. "Why would I want to spend all my time in a workshop with you when you're so oblivious about everything going on in my life?"

"_Well maybe if you'd been answering my calls lately I wouldn't be so oblivious_," Tony reasoned.

"And maybe if you realised it's not just lately that's the problem…" Blaine sighed. "Whatever, I don't want to go to New York and work on the suit with you, so please just stop asking."

"_You know me, Blainers, I'm not one to give up_." Blaine could hear the grin in his father's voice.

"I have to go. Goodbye, Dad."

"_My offer still stands, don't forget._"

Blaine hung up the phone, ran a frustrated hand through his hair and went to find Kurt.

OoOoOoO

"Blaine has been all over you in glee, and there is no ignoring the way he was looking at you just then," Tina grinned.

"That's not to mention the hickeys neither of you are doing a good job at hiding. What's going on, Kurt?" Mercedes asked, keen for gossip. "It's not often one of us gets a new boyfriend, so don't spare any details."

"I hate to disappoint you girls but it's just normal boyfriend stuff," Kurt shrugged. "Same as any of the other dating combinations we've had."

"If you say so," Mercedes said, not sounding convinced. "Has he met your Dad yet?"

"He stayed over after Rachel's party so they met then," Kurt answered.

"And what did your dad think of him?" Mercedes prompted.

"I don't really know, Blaine was really hung over so he didn't make the best of impressions but it could have been worse."

"And have you met his mother?" Mercedes asked.

"Yeah, I've met her," Kurt blushed at the memory of his first meeting with Blaine's mother.

"And his Dad?" Tina knew she may be overstepping, it was common knowledge that Blaine hated talking about his father.

"He's in New York," Kurt lowered his voice. "Blaine doesn't really talk about his Dad much, and I don't ask. He hasn't told me anything about when he saw him on his suspension."

Kurt was saved from any further questions when Blaine caught up with them, clearly annoyed.

"Hey Blaine," Kurt smiled.

"Hi," he said distractedly.

"We were going to get coffee at the Lima Bean, you could come too if you want," Mercedes invited.

"Uh, sure," Blaine nodded.

"Are you okay, Blaine?" Tina asked. "You seem a bit off."

"I'm fine, my Dad just called and I didn't expect it to go well," he shrugged. "But the Lima Bean sounds alright, I haven't been there yet."

"I think I'm going to have to take a raincheck, I'm not feeling very well and I have a lot of homework to do," Kurt said. "I'll see you tomorrow." He looked around before kissing Blaine goodbye and heading to his car.

"I might as well head home too then," Blaine sighed. "I suppose I should work on my number, though there's no way it'll live up to Kurt's."

The girls bid him farewell and Blaine walked home to find his house empty, just the way he liked it. He sat down at the piano and played the song he had chosen for this week's glee assignment over and over until he got it perfectly right.

OoOoOoO

Kurt was absent in all of Blaine's classes on Wednesday, curious as to why, Blaine texted him during lunch.

Blaine: _Skipping class today? I'm a good influence on you_

A few minutes later he received a reply.

Kurt: _I'm sick, this flu feels like death_

Thinking back, Blaine did notice Kurt seemed to be a little bit pale the day before, but he had just put it down to performance nerves.

Blaine: _I'll skip glee this afternoon to come cheer you up with soup and cuddles_

Kurt: _As wonderful as that sounds I don't want you to get sick and you can't skip glee this close to regionals_

Blaine: _Fiiiiiiiiiiine I won't skip glee, but I'm still coming over_

Kurt: _If you can't be persuaded, chicken noodle's my favourite type of soup_

Blaine chuckled and resumed eating his lunch, sitting with Mike and a few of the other glee guys. He felt slightly awkward with Finn and Sam sitting at the same table. Even though Finn hadn't actually done anything to him and Sam had apologised, he was still wary about them.

"I think I'm finally over my hang over from Rachel's party," Mike joked.

"Time for some more drinking then," Puck grinned. "I could get us a couple of slabs for this weekend."

"Why wait for this weekend?" Blaine asked, ignoring yet another text message from his father. "There's nothing wrong with a little Wednesday drinking."

"After how I felt the last time I don't plan on drinking any time soon," Mike complained.

"You get used to it," Blaine shrugged, "but abstaining from alcohol is another option."

"I think I'll go with the second option," Mike laughed.

"Your loss," Blaine flicked his tongue across the inside of his lip ring, thinking of all the amazing memories – or lack of memories – he'd had from drinking at parties and bars. "One thing we didn't do at Rachel's was play Never Have I Ever. That's one way to get me wasted."

"I became very good at pouring shots from playing it," Puck agreed.

"I've never played it," Mike confessed.

"Neither," seconded Finn.

"We'll have to fix that then," Puck grinned.

"I'm not in a hurry," Mike said.

"Give me time to tally some more stuff up," Blaine nodded. Finn looked at him shiftily for that remark, he apparently wasn't keen on Blaine having a physical and possibly kinky relationship with Kurt.

"Are you up for this weekend then Blaine?" Puck asked, grinning. "A Puck-party is one not to be missed."

"Maybe, my Dad wants me to visit him but I'd much rather stay here," Blaine said, his tone slightly bitter at the mention of his father.

"Sweet," he nodded.

"Scandals is the name of the gay bar isn't?" Blaine asked.

"Yeah," Puck nodded, "but there is no way I'm going there."

"I wasn't expecting you to," Blaine laughed. "I was thinking about going there one night this week."

"You've got a fake ID I'm assuming?" Puck asked.

"Of course," Blaine nodded. "All that Stark technology's got to be useful somehow."

"Nice," Puck grinned and gave Blaine a high five.

The rest of Blaine's day passed in an indifferent blur of classes and glee rehearsal. Finally the day was over and he could go to Kurt's house to check out how sick his boyfriend was.

OoOoOoO

Blaine ignored yet another text from his phone, sitting beside Kurt on his bed (with the door open, as per Burt's insistence). Kurt eyed his boyfriend curiously, noticing the annoyed expression that flashed across his face when the text came through.

"You're not going to check that?" he asked.

"It'll be my Dad, it doesn't matter," Blaine shrugged.

"He's sent you like 6 messages since you got here, are you sure it's not important?"

"He's trying to convince me to stay with him this weekend, but I'd much rather stay here and look after you," Blaine's smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"I'm flattered, but you should go if you want to," Kurt said, feeling guilty he was keeping Blaine from visiting New York.

Blaine shook his head, "I don't want to go."

Kurt knew asking him why would get him nowhere, so he curled tighter into his boyfriend and didn't push the topic further. He didn't know why Blaine, who had seemed so keen to get out of Lima, all of a sudden rejected the idea of spending time in New York.

"He wants my help with something, we were working on it when I was there on my suspension," Blaine explained, being as specific as he could be without revealing too much. "And I do want to do it I guess, but just not as urgently, and I don't really want to spend another weekend in Stark Tower."

"Well, it sucks that I'm sick, we could have done something more fun this weekend."

"There's nothing wrong with a movie marathon weekend," Blaine suggested.

"Nothing wrong with that at all," Kurt smiled.

"Sounds like a plan," Blaine grinned. He looked down at his boyfriend who was curled into his side and pecked his lips against the other boy's forehead. Blaine moved his head further down, trying to find Kurt's lips.

Kurt pulled his head away, "I don't want to get you sick."

"I'll be fine," Blaine tried to reassure him. He leant closer to the other boy, trying to show that he didn't care about catching his illness.

"No," Kurt shook his head and gently moved out of Blaine's arms. "Not today."

"Fine," Blaine nodded. He pulled his phone out of his pocked and read through the messages from his father. Some were asking for measurements for his suit but most were trying to convince him to spend the weekend at Stark Tower.

Kurt yawned, wincing at the pain it caused in his throat. He sank deeper into his bed and closer to Blaine, his eyes starting to droop.

"I should get going if you're going to sleep, you need to rest."

"No, I'll stay awake," Kurt said, stifling another yawn and wrapping his arms tighter around Blaine's body.

"You need to rest so you can get better," Blaine said, gently rubbing circles on Kurt's back to soothe him into sleep. "I'll come and visit again tomorrow."

"Fine," Kurt pouted.

Blaine kissed Kurt's forehead again before getting up gently, trying not to jostle his boyfriend. He didn't want to go home, his mother wasn't quite over their argument from during their visit to New York, and it was too quiet there. He didn't know where else to go in boring little Lima but he remembered part of his conversation from lunch – he could go to Scandals and forget all about his father wanting him to work on his suit, his argument with his mother, and everything else that was bothering him.

He reached in his back pocket to check that his fake ID was still in his wallet. It hadn't been hard to use the right Stark technology to make it, and it had proved very useful.

Blaine's face split into a grin once he was inside the bar. He bought the first drink of many for the night and sat and the bar, eyeing the talent and forgetting about everything that wasn't in the bar.

**A/N: The song Kurt sang was Drunk by Ed Sheeran (add /watch?v=G2fOum_KWQU to watch it on youtube)**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: This is a big one, it's nearly twice as long as the last one but I really didn't want to split it. Thanks for all the favourites, follows and reviews and everyone who reads it - I remember getting excited when it had 30 follows and now there's over 120! When I stop getting slack I'll be posting it on tumblr, sometimes before I put it up here or sometimes just sneak peaks. If you want to follow me my url's .com or if you want to track the story it's tagged as Luvenum Eximius Bellator: Young Superhero. Enough of my rambling, here's the monster chapter 14...**

**Ch****apter**** 14**

Blaine woke up Thursday morning with a slight pounding in his head. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around his own bedroom, pleased he'd managed to make it home. He couldn't remember much of the night before, it was hazy blur of alcohol and loud music. Scandals had lived up to everything it promised.

He slowly sat up, glad his throbbing head didn't worsen as he did so. He looked down at his shirtless body, assessing the damage. He couldn't see any bruises or cuts, but a glint of silver as he looked down at his bare chest caught his eye. It seemed he had finally gotten his nipple pierced.

Blaine pulled his phone out of his pocket to check his messages and possibly find some clues about what he did the night before. He had two messages from Kurt and only one from his mother wondering where he was. He glanced at the clock on his phone and realised he was nearly late for school.

He threw a t-shirt on, decided the pants he was wearing were fine and walked into the kitchen where his mother was waiting.

"Can I use the car?" Blaine asked. "I'll be late for school otherwise."

"I need it for work, I'll give you a ride," she offered flatly.

They drove in silence, it wasn't the first time Blaine had gone out on a school night and gone to school hung over. Meredith was used to her son's behaviour, she knew she couldn't do anything about it so she had stopped trying. Blaine was almost an adult, he was responsible for his own actions and he knew what his consequences would be.

Blaine slumped down into his desk between Puck and Mike in biology, just in time.

"Are you okay, man?" Mike asked concernedly.

"I'm fantastic," Blaine said sarcastically.

"Dude, when did you get your ear pierced?" Puck tried to remember if Blaine had always had his ear pierced and he had previously been really unobservant, or if it was just something new.

"What?" Blaine felt his earlobes and sure enough there was a stud in the bottom of his right ear. His fingers travelled higher up his ear and felt a helix piercing through the top of it. "Well, that's new."

"You- you didn't know you had it?" Mike looked confused.

"I went out last night," Blaine shrugged. "I must have got my ear done the same time as my nipple. I don't really remember, everything from last night's kind of a blur."

Mike looked uncertain but didn't mention it any further, the teacher had begun the lesson.

Blaine barely paid attention in biology, or in his next class that morning. Knowing Kurt wouldn't be there again in their third period English class, he decided to give up trying to feign interest in school and visit his boyfriend again.

Kurt answered the door sleepily when Blaine knocked.

"Did I wake you?" he asked concernedly.

"No, I was watching TV," Kurt led him inside. "Why aren't you at school?"

"It was boring," Blaine shrugged.

"When did you get your ear pierced?" Kurt noticed.

"Last night… I think," Blaine furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to remember more of what he had done at Scandals. "I got something else pierced too," he smirked, his voice dripping with innuendo. "I can't wait until you're better so you can find out."

Kurt tried to hide the shocked and curious look on his face. Blaine noticed and grinned.

"Spoiler alert," he whispered into Kurt's ear, "it was my nipple."

Kurt blushed and sat back down on the couch where he was before he was interrupted. Blaine sat down beside him, right beside him.

"Are you okay Blaine?" Kurt sensed something a little bit off about him.

"I'm fine, possibly hung over," he shrugged slightly, "but I'm just peachy."

"Wait – hung over?" Kurt sat up straighter, getting a better look at the other boy.

"Yeah, I went to Scandals last night and drank, well, a lot," Blaine shied under Kurt's gaze. "I don't feel as bad as I did on the weekend though."

"But, why?"

"Why don't I feel as hung over? I have no idea."

"No, why did you go out last night?" Kurt was getting more concerned and worried.

"To forget about everything for a while," Blaine said simply. "You were sick and I didn't want to go home, where else could I go?"

"Why didn't you want to go home?"

"Mom and I sort of had a fight in New York and it's still kind of awkward between us," Blaine mumbled. "Plus the house is just really quiet."

"You could have stayed here, you're always welcome here."

"Finn doesn't like me around," Blaine scoffed. "And I don't know what your father thinks but I doubt it's anything good."

"It doesn't matter what they think," Kurt was adamant that Blaine was welcome in his house. "What did you and your Mom fight about?"

"My living situation among other things," Blaine said bitterly. "How much of an uncontrollable failure I am mostly."

"You are not a failure, Blaine," Kurt corrected him.

Blaine chuckled dryly, "if you say so."

"I do say so," Kurt said strongly.

Blaine half shrugged and turned to the TV. "High School Musical? Really, Kurt?"

"I'm sick, don't judge me," he folded his arms across his chest and pouted slightly. He was glad Blaine had answered his questions but understood that he wanted to change the subject.

"Fine," Blaine chuckled and leant back against the couch, slowly easing the tension in his body. He felt Kurt relax beside him and reached an arm around the other boy's shoulders.

They watched the rest of the movie in near silence together, Blaine was even miming the words along with Kurt by the end.

Kurt saw the time as he got up to change the DVD. "You should get back to school, glee can't be two members down."

"I suppose," Blaine shrugged, showing no signs of wanting to get up. "We're still doing songs for alcohol awareness week and I'm feeling very aware of alcohol today."

"I've never been to Scandals, is it any good?" Kurt asked.

"I enjoyed myself, maybe we could go there together some time," Blaine offered.

"You're a funny drunk, I'm going to have to take you up on that," Kurt smirked.

"I'm not a funny drunk," Blaine pouted.

"You kind of are, Blaine, it's cute," Kurt smiled.

"I don't aspire to be cute," Blaine scowled, then deciding he wouldn't win, chose to distract Kurt. "Do you want to hear my song for Alcohol Awareness Week?"

"Of course," he smiled. "There's a piano in the study if you want."

"Lead the way," Blaine followed his boyfriend into a small room with a cluttered desk, a few chairs and piano in it.

"_There's a stranger in my bed, there's a pounding my head, glitter all over the room, pink flamingos in the pool, I smell like a minibar, DJ's passed out in the yard, Barbie's on the barbeque, this a hickie or a bruise?_" Blaine smirked at his boyfriend who smiled back.

The song sounded differently when played slowly on the piano, but Kurt thought it worked for Blaine – but then again, Blaine could sing anything and it would work for him.

"_Pictures of last night, ended up online, I'm screwed, oh well. It's a blacked out blur, but I'm pretty sure it ruled_," Blaine picked up the tempo as he began the chorus, grinning as he sang.

"_Last Friday night, yeah we danced on tabletops, and we took too many shots, think we kissed but I forgot_," Blaine blushed singing those words, remembering the game of spin the bottle from Rachel's party.

"_Last Friday night, yeah we maxed our credit cards, and got kicked out of the bar, so we hit the boulevard. Last Friday night, we went streaking in the park, skinny dipping in the dark, then had a menage a trois_. _Last Friday night, yeah I think we broke the law, always say we're gonna stop, whoa-oh-oah_.

"_This Friday night, do it all again, this Friday night, do it all again_," Blaine played the last notes and smiled up at his boyfriend. "What do you think?"

"I don't really know if it's the message Mr Schue'll want, but you were amazing, as usual," Kurt grinned.

"Schuester can shove it up his ass, this song's far better than anything he can come up with," Blaine shrugged.

"Well you should get going otherwise you won't find out," Kurt held out his hand.

Blaine took it and allowed himself to be lead out to the entranceway of Kurt's house. He captured Kurt's lips in a goodbye kiss. "I don't care that you're sick, it's worth it," he smirked before disappearing out the door, his call of, "I'll be back later" lingering after him.

OoOoOoO

"Blaine, you said you had something for alcohol awareness week prepared?" Mr Schue prompted him.

"I sure do," he grinned, for the first time actually excited to be performing in front of the club.

"_There's a stranger in my bed…_"

The rest of the club joined him in the choruses, everyone on their feet and dancing with him, making him feel included for once.

"_Last Friday night, yeah we danced on tabletops, and we took too many shots, think we kissed but I forgot_," Blaine smirked at Rachel, singing the chorus the final time.

"_Last Friday night, yeah we maxed our credit cards, and got kicked out of the bar, so we hit the boulevard. Last Friday night, we went streaking in the park, skinny dipping in the dark, then had a menage a trois_. _Last Friday night, yeah I think we broke the law, always say we're gonna stop, whoa-oh-oah_."

Everyone returned to their seats as he finished the song. "_This Friday night, do it all again, do it all again, this Friday night_."

The glee club erupted into cheers and applause, Blaine felt a small sense of pride that they were all cheering him.

"That was a great performance, Blaine," Mr Schue said, "but I don't think it's quite what alcohol awareness week is really about. It kind of glorifies drinking, and that's not the message Figgins want us to send. But it was a great performance."

Blaine returned to his seat, sulking slightly at Mr Schuester's reaction to his song but more focused on how it felt to have the whole glee club singing and dancing along to a song he chose and sang lead vocal for.

OoOoOoO

Blaine made it through one more class without falling asleep and/or dying and was on his way to another when a couple of hockey players decided to stir up trouble with an already cranky Blaine.

"What the fuck, hockey puck?" he shouted at the hockey players who had shoved him into the lockers behind him.

The mullet adorned head belonging to Rick 'The Stick' turned around and sneered at Blaine, "What, homo?"

Blaine rolled his eyes in understanding of the hockey player's actions. "Oh nothing, I just didn't realise there were so freaking many homophobic douche bags here."

"It's not my fault you're all screwed up," he shrugged, "you and your little boyfriend."

Blaine sighed and clenched his fists by his side, willing himself to find some self-control.

The hockey player noticed his agitation and smirked, "You wanna go, Anderson?"

"There are only 2 of you, you're going to need a few more to make it even, or didn't you see me beat up those football players?" Blaine goaded back.

"I think I'll take my chances," he said shoving Blaine again, harder.

Blaine's boxing instincts and the training he'd gotten from some persuaded SHIELD agents took over. He landed a few good blows on the hockey player's face and received some equally good ones back. He was too distracted by finding an outlet for his building rage to notice the pain and bruises forming on his face

"Your superhero daddy's not here to save you this time," Rick taunted.

"Like he's ever saved me," Blaine scoffed through his clenched jaw. He couldn't remember much of the Sadie Hawkins dance but he remembered wishing someone would save him, half hoping his dad would come to the rescue even before the days of Iron Man. He shoved Rick into the locker bay, only to be shoved back against them by the other hockey players. "You don't know shit about my father." Rick had him pinned against the lockers, their faces only inches apart. Rick had one arm securing Blaine against the lockers and the other was pounding its way into any part of Blaine he could find, mainly his stomach but also his chest and his face again.

Blaine shoved the hockey player off him, both of them glaring at each other and completely oblivious to the gathering crowd. Blaine recalled his favourite move Natasha taught him, he waited for Rick to lunge at him again and used his force against him, pinning him against the lockers with his arm behind his back. He pushed the arm he had control of slowly higher and higher, watching the look of pain on the hockey player's face.

A strong pair of arms tried to pull Blaine off Rick and Blaine, assuming it was the other hockey players, tried to shrug them off but they only pulled harder. He maintained his hold on Rick's arm and turned to take care of whoever had hold of him.

Blaine was startled to see it was Puck. "Get off me, Puckerman," he snarled.

"He's not worth it, dude," Puck pulled harder. Blaine tried to shake him off but Puck wouldn't budge.

"Oh great, another failure who's failed to beat me up," Rick rolled his eyes, a cocky move considering he was pinned against a locker.

"He's not worth getting suspended again over," Puck reasoned. Blaine realised that getting suspended would probably lead to his father winning and finally dragging him back to New York to work on the suit.

He pulled the hockey player's arm as far as he could without dislocating it and shoved him harder into the locker before going limp and allowing Puck to pull him away from the fight.

Puck led him into the boy's locker rooms, only letting go when they were a safe distance away from the hockey players.

"What the hell was that about?" Puck asked him.

"He's an ass, what was I supposed to do?" Blaine retorted.

"Rise above it? He's always going to be like that, he's not worth getting suspended over."

"Maybe it's time someone taught him a lesson," Blaine said through clenched teeth.

"Yeah maybe, but you sure didn't. Look at yourself, man." Blaine walked over to a mirror and observed the effects of his fight. He had a large bruise blossoming around his left eye and smaller ones forming around various places on the rest of his face. His bottom lip was split and he could feel that there would be more bruises on his body.

Blaine stripped off his shirt to inspect the damage, poking the developing bruises on his stomach and chest. "I've had worse," he shrugged.

"I can see that," Puck said, referring to the scar that was visible along his shirtless back. "What's it from?"

"The last time I got beat up before I learnt to defend myself," Blaine summarised the incident. "The last time I got beat up without fighting back."

"That sucks, man, but you can't go starting fights around here," Puck said.

"Why not?" Blaine snapped.

"Because you're just going to end up hurt, and you'll get everyone else hurt along with you," Puck answered. "Do you think Kurt wants to see you like this?"

"Low blow, man," Blaine shook his head.

"Whatever, just try not to get suspended while I'm gone," Puck shrugged and walked out of the locker rooms, leaving Blaine alone to deal with his thoughts.

He spotted a punching bag hanging from the weights area of the locker room and found some boxing gloves, imagining Rick's and his father's faces on the bag as he pounded it.

He was hung over and frustrated, it hadn't taken much for him to snap. He was so tired of homophobic quips and people just generally frustrating him that it had taken one sentence from a hockey puck with a mullet for him to snap.

Blaine didn't know how long he spent hitting the punching bag before he decided he was in control enough to face people again.

OoOoOoO

He ditched his last classes of the day and walked to Kurt's again. Blaine knew his father would buy him any car he wanted in a heartbeat but he didn't want to have to rely on Tony. He wanted to be self-sufficient and if that meant having to walk or borrow his Mom's car, then he was willing to make those sacrifices.

Kurt answered the door sleepily for second time that day, but woke up quickly seeing Blaine in the state he was in.

"What happened?" he asked, taking Blaine's hand and leading him inside again. Kurt had sent him back to school a few hours ago but he'd never expected him to return like this. He led him into the lounge room and went to the kitchen, returning quickly with some ice for the bruises he could see on his boyfriend's face.

"I got in a fight with one of the hockey idiots, it was nothing," Blaine mumbled.

"It doesn't look like nothing," Kurt's fingers gently traced the bruises on Blaine's face before he pressed the cloth-wrapped ice against them.

"I've had worse," he shrugged.

"Blaine, you know you can talk to me about anything don't you? You know that I won't judge you or think anything differently of you no matter what you say," Kurt had been thinking about how much Blaine was holding back from him, not only about his recent behaviour but about his past as well.

"Is this about my scar again?" Blaine asked suspiciously.

"Not really, I just want you to know that," Kurt said.

"I know, Kurt," Blaine nodded, "it's just hard to talk about." When you've had no one to talk to for so long, having meaningful conversations becomes hard.

"I understand."

Blaine sighed and entwined his fingers with Kurt's, sitting down beside him on the couch where they were earlier that morning. "I don't know exactly what I told you the other night at Rachel's party, but all that really happened was a couple of homophobes beat me up pretty badly at a school dance." Kurt nodded to show he was listening, lifting the ice off his cheek to better view the emotions on Blaine's face. "I had just come out, my Dad was missing in Afghanistan and my Mom was distant. I went to the Sadie Hawkins dance with the only other gay kid at school and as we were waiting to get picked up a couple of guys … beat the living crap out of us." Blaine shuddered slightly at the memory. "I don't really remember what happened after that because of the concussion but I woke up in the hospital nearly a week later with 5 broken ribs, a broken arm and a huge scar from where they had to stop my ribs from puncturing my lung."

"Did you press charges against the guys who did it?" Kurt wondered.

Blaine shook his head and chuckled bitterly, "No. Dad was missing and Mom didn't care enough. If we'd have pressed charges the media would have been all over it, plus it would have ended up getting twisted so it looked like I provoked them. But I did get my own revenge – I took up boxing and learnt to defend myself once I was strong enough. They soon learned not to try anything with me."

Kurt could barely believe something like that could have happened to someone like Blaine. He'd heard all the stories and seen the headlines of similar stories but never thought it would happen to someone he knew.

"So now you know one of the reasons I hate people in general, and why I stopped those guys from beating you up. I couldn't bear to witness it happen to someone else," Blaine had finally told someone what happened, he had finally opened up to someone and it felt great.

"Oh, Blaine," Kurt said softly, leaning over to gently kiss each bruise on his face before placing the ice back on them.

"You might need more ice," Blaine said, pulling his shirt up to reveal more bruising on his stomach and chest.

"Oh, Blaine," Kurt repeated, shaking his head. "More bruises for me to kiss better." Kurt pulled Blaine's shirt the rest of the way over his head and dropped it on the floor behind them.

One corner of Blaine's mouth drew up in a half smile as Kurt leaned closer and gently brushed his lips against each of the purple marks. He tried to hold in his laughter whenever Kurt's lips or hair tickled him. Kurt's mouth lingered around Blaine's new nipple piercing, enjoying the metallic taste and the way playing with it with his tongue could make Blaine shiver.

Kurt's lips rose higher and stopped at Blaine's neck, thoughts of getting ice forgotten. "I think I need to leave _my_ mark on you," he whispered into Blaine's skin before his mouth set to work, sucking, biting, licking and nipping in all the right ways to make Blaine moan with pleasure.

Blaine hands rubbed up and down Kurt's back, unable to focus on anything else with the pleasure Kurt was giving him. Why did he try to drink away his problems when Kurt was so much better at distracting him? If Kurt wasn't sick, last night could have ended very differently.

Blaine gently pulled Kurt's chin up so their faces were level and they kissed passionately. Kurt enjoyed feeling the bead of Blaine's tongue stud slide against his own tongue, all the while still being careful around Blaine's split lip. Blaine smirked into the kiss as they shifted on the couch to bring their bodies closer together. Blaine's shirtless torso pressed against his boyfriend's button-up, Kurt moved his lips back down the other boy's jaw and neck, sucking on the pulse point hard enough to make a small whimper escape Blaine's mouth.

Kurt's mouth was still pressed against Blaine's neck when the front door opened. Kurt's face fell and he was sitting up straight by the time Burt entered the lounge room but it wasn't hard for him to guess what they'd been doing.

"Hey Dad," Kurt said, feigning innocence.

"Mr Hummel," Blaine greeted him as respectfully as he could muster, sitting shirtless with a hickey growing on his neck.

"Hey, kiddo. Hello, Blaine," he said, his gaze focused on the still-shirtless and bruise covered boy sitting on the couch next to his son. "Can I talk to you in the kitchen, Kurt?"

Kurt picked Blaine's shirt up off the floor and passed it to him before following his father into their kitchen.

"What's up, Dad?" Kurt asked.

"What's up?" Burt repeated incredulously. "What's up is I come home to check on my son who was too sick to go to school and find him doing god knows what with a boy who looks like a human punching bag."

"Blaine got in a fight today," Kurt addressed his father somewhat sourly. "And we weren't _doing _anything," he ruined the statement by blushing while he spoke. He avoided his father's gaze, they had discussed the birds and the bees but it was a thoroughly awkward conversation.

"It didn't look like nothing, but I suppose I can give you the benefit of the doubt this once," Burt sighed and shook his head slightly. "How are you, how's the throat?"

"I'm feeling a lot better," Kurt nodded.

"Good," Burt nodded as well. "I should get back to the shop, I just came to bring you some soup," he gestured to the take-away bowl sitting on the kitchen bench.

"Thanks, Dad," Kurt smiled and enclosed his father in a hug, trying to convey his thanks and appreciation in the embrace.

"Finn'll be home after school and I'll be home for dinner. I don't know when Carole'll be home, just… keep that in mind," he said pointedly.

Kurt blushed again and nodded, "Will do, Dad."

Blaine pulled his T-shirt back over his head and stood up to inspect Kurt's living room. He hated sitting still when he was uncomfortable, and judging by the look on Burt's face he had plenty of reason to be uncomfortable. This wouldn't be the first time a parent had been unhappy with the boy their son brought home, it happened often enough that he was used to disapproving parents and had become quite good at hiding relationships. Among the things he'd learnt were where to leave hickeys so that whoever he gave it to knew they were there but no one else could see them, and how to sneak around curfews.

Blaine walked over to the TV cabinet and looked at the photographs sitting around the screen. They showed many different things, childhood photographs of both Kurt and Finn, Burt and Carole's wedding photographs, but the picture that caught Blaine's eye was one of a very young Kurt sitting on a swing in front of a younger Burt and a smiling woman he assumed was Kurt's mother. Sitting between them the resemblance between Kurt and his parents was easily noticeable. Family photos like these were lacking in Blaine's house, but they were abundant in Kurt's.

"Sorry about my Dad," Kurt apologised. "He's gone back to the shop now, though."

"It's okay," Blaine pulled his eyes away from the photos. "You were a cute kid, still are cute."

"Thanks," Kurt smiled.

"So we're alone now?" Blaine asked, walking over to his boyfriend and smirking.

"Until Finn or Carole come home," Kurt grinned, wrapping his arms around the other boy.

"I'm not fond of being interrupted," Blaine frowned slightly.

"Well you interrupted my movie," Kurt mock-pouted.

"Perhaps you should put it back on then," Blaine's hands traced down Kurt's body, resting on the small of his back and bringing their bodies closer together, "but maybe we won't _watch_ the movie."

Kurt pulled Blaine closer, squeezing their bodies together before releasing him quickly at the pained look on Blaine's face.

"Sorry," Blaine winced, "you just squeezed a bruise."

"Sorry," Kurt apologised, taking Blaine's hand gently and leading him back to sit beside him on the couch.

"So what movie are we not watching?" Blaine asked, their shoulders and hips pressed against each other.

"High School Musical 3," Kurt mumbled. "I was having a marathon of them."

Blaine laughed and captured Kurt's lips in sweet, short kiss before turning back to the screen. "I've never seen either of the sequels."

"Really?" Kurt pressed play on the remote. "Maybe we should actually watch it then."

"I think I can live without having seen it a little bit longer," Blaine said, unsure whether or not his boyfriend was kidding.

"I don't know, it is pretty good…"

"Kurt…" Blaine whined.

Kurt laughed and grinned, "fine, c'mere."

Blaine snaked an arm around his boyfriend's shoulders and brought their lips together, kissing gently and slowly. Blaine ran his tongue along Kurt's bottom lip and smiled into his boyfriend's face. Kurt parted his lips to deepen the kiss and brought his body closer to Blaine's, enjoying the warmth he radiated.

Blaine's hands felt across the muscles of Kurt's chest before sliding down his back and cupping around Kurt's ass cheeks.

Kurt pulled his boyfriend's hands higher, resting on the small of his back, and chuckled. "Let's not delve south of the equator, shall we? Finn could be home at any time," Kurt explained, resting his forehead against his boyfriend's.

A look of annoyance flashed across Blaine's face but it was gone as fast as it came. "Sure," he agreed. "But I get free reign on everything north?" he asked with a smirk.

"Yeah," Kurt breathed, watching the hungry look in Blaine's eyes.

"Good," he nodded. "I liked you leaving your mark on me," Blaine's fingers brushed gently on the mark Kurt's mouth had left on his neck, "but now it's my turn. You're mine and I want everyone to know it."

Before Kurt could react, Blaine's head slipped lower and he started nipping along the other boy's jawline, sliding his tongue over the bite marks to soothe them. Blaine's mouth travelled lower, his fingers reaching up to unbutton the top of Kurt's shirt to give him more skin to mark.

All Kurt could do was moan and fist his fingers into Blaine's hair and the other boy teased the sensitive skin around his neck. The occasional feel of cold metal from Blaine's tongue or lip piercings only made it feel even better.

"Hey Kurt, I'm home," Finn called from the front door. "Your boyfriend got in another fight today, I don't know what you see in hi– oh, hey Blaine," he finished awkwardly.

Blaine glared at him and untangled his limbs from Kurt. Kurt blushed at his stepbrother and did the top buttons of his shirt back up.

"We're going to have to start doing this at my place," Blaine huffed. "Whatever, I should get going."

"Wait, Blaine–" Kurt stood up with his boyfriend and grabbed his hand.

"I need to sleep off my hangover anyway," Blaine shrugged.

"Okay," Kurt said, chewing on his bottom lip in concern. Blaine captured his lips in a quick goodbye kiss before glaring at Finn on his way out.

"Did you really have to come in shouting that?" Kurt snapped to his step-brother once the door shut behind Blaine.

"How was I supposed to know he was here?" Finn asked, shrinking under Kurt's interrogation.

"That's not the point," Kurt gritted his teeth. "The point is that you can't just be happy for me."

"I just don't know what you see in him," Finn said.

"Exactly, because you won't give him a chance all you see is the act he puts on," Kurt said defensively.

"He's been here just over a month and he's already been in 4 fights and gotten suspended, that's not to mention all the other detentions he's gotten and the way he speaks to some people. His Dad's famous and it's obviously just gone to his head. You hear the way he talks about New York and he's probably going to up and leave the second he gets the chance. He's a bad influence and it's only going to end badly. Just because he's the first gay guy here to like you back it doesn't mean you should ignore everything else."

"Two of those fights were to stop your football teammates beating me up," Kurt said, on the brink of tears. "You have no idea what you're talking about, Finn. You only see what you want to see, and you have no idea what he's been through."

"And you do?" Finn asked.

"I know more than you do!"

"I just don't want my little brother getting hurt."

"I'm older than you Finn," Kurt sighed and shook his head before going upstairs and shutting his bedroom door behind him. He caught sight of his reflection in the mirror behind his door and leant closer to the glass, running his fingers over the red marks Blaine's mouth had left. Thankfully he had some concealer around, he didn't want to have to explain them to his father.

OoOoOoO

Burt and Carole came home for dinner and as they ate together as a family it was just like any other night, apart from Kurt's occasional glares at Finn.

After their meal Kurt decided he should check on Blaine, he had left in a hurry and nothing good had come out of Blaine's angered decisions.

"I'm going to go to Blaine's for a bit, I'll be back before my curfew," Kurt told his father.

"He was just here this afternoon, what's so important it can't wait till tomorrow?" Burt asked.

"He left in a hurry this afternoon and I just wanted to make sure he's okay," Kurt explained. Burt raised an eyebrow and Kurt continued before his father could ask. "He and Finn don't get along very well."

"Be back by–"

"Thanks Dad," Kurt said, grabbing his keys and rushing out the door.

Meredith answered the door when Kurt knocked. She looked tired and he didn't know if she remembered him from the awkward incident she walked in on.

"Is Blaine home?" he asked politely.

"He's in his room," she answered and stepped aside to let him in.

Meredith didn't show Kurt to Blaine's room but simply returned to the living room, trusting that he knew where to go. Blaine's door was ajar and he peeked in before entering quietly.

Blaine was passed out on his stomach on the covers of his bed. Kurt could see the shirt he had been wearing on the floor among many others. From the angle he was laying Kurt could see that the scar along his back was accompanied by many bruises he hadn't noticed earlier that afternoon.

Blaine nuzzled his pillow and nestled closer into it. It was one of the most adorable things Kurt had ever seen.

Kurt suddenly felt awkward as he realised he was watching Blaine sleep, that may have worked on Bella for Edward but to anyone else that's really creepy. He should have texted or called ahead.

He was about to open Blaine's door and leave when he stepped on a creaky floorboard and Blaine sat up, looking around to see what the noise was.

"Kurt?" he asked groggily.

"Yeah, sorry I didn't realise you'd be asleep, I was just going to go–"

"Don't be silly, I'm awake now," Blaine yawned and sat up straighter, running a hand through his hair. "What'd you come over for?"

"Just to see if you were okay after Finn and this afternoon and everything," Kurt explained.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me," Blaine mumbled.

Kurt sat down on the bed beside Blaine and wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulders. "I care about you, Blaine. And Finn may not like you but I do. Finn's an idiot sometimes and we shouldn't listen to anything he says."

Blaine snorted, "I didn't leave because of what he said, trust me I've had worse. I could just see that it would be awkward for you if I stayed. I'm fine, Kurt."

"Good," Kurt smiled. "You're cute when you're asleep , you know?"

"You're creepy for watching me sleep, you know?" Blaine laughed playfully.

"That's why I was just going to leave before you woke up."

"Then I'm glad I woke up," Blaine said gently, clasping Kurt's hand in his, "stay,"

"Okay," Kurt smiled.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: My sincerest apologies for taking so long to get this chapter finished and up but November and December were just extremely hectic months which allowed me very little time to write. Fortunately I'm on holidays until February so I should get plenty of time now, but I don't know when the next chapter will be up. ****I've also started writing some more of Blaine's backstory - a series of short one shots about each of his piercings, and a lot more about his time in LA. Some details of Blaine's life in LA are given in this chapter and I fell in love with writing the characters so expect that to either work its way into this story or be posted separately here or on my tumblr. Again, sorry for the late update but I have in no way abandoned this story.**

**Chapter 15**

Kurt stayed laying with Blaine until his curfew, and when he left Blaine went straight back to sleep, his first full night of sleep since he moved to Lima.

School the next day was nowhere near as peaceful as the night for Blaine – Puck had told Coach Beiste about his fight and that's why he found himself sitting in her office before school the next day, tapping his tongue ring against his teeth and waiting for her to dose out whatever punishment she deemed appropriate.

"Puckerman told me about your fight yesterday. Don't worry, I haven't told Figgins," she began, seemingly kindly. Blaine nodded silently, still gauging his opinion on her. "Looking over you record, you seem to have a history with this sort of thing, do you play any sports or have any physical outlet?"

"I box," Blaine answered. "I took it up to learn to defend myself."

"Ever thought about joining football?"

Blaine scoffed. "I, like my father, don't play well with others."

"Alright, but team sports could help with that," she said.

"At the risk of sounding rude – I really don't care," Blaine said, patience forced into his voice. "Is that why I'm here, for you to convince me to join the football team? Sorry but I've got other things I'd rather be doing than chasing a ball over a field with a bunch of idiots who enjoy beating my boyfriend up."

"I was just trying to help you find a constructive outlet for your anger, I don't need you beating up my star hockey players," she said gently. "But you are in glee club which means that you're trying."

"Whatever keeps people happy," he shrugged.

"You don't enjoy glee?" she asked confusedly.

"It's alright," he shrugged. "It gives me something to do."

"Okay," she nodded, not entirely convinced.

"So can I go now?" Blaine asked tiredly.

"Yeah, just know that you've got options if you ever want help."

"Right, thanks," Blaine nodded awkwardly, slinging his bag over his shoulder and walking out of the locker room.

OoOoOoO

"That looks nasty," Mike said, referring to the bruises half-covering his face. They had been sitting together with Puck in their biology class more and more regularly and were getting used to the small talk that ensued, mainly when Finn wasn't in class or was sitting somewhere else.

"I've had worse," Blaine shrugged.

"Still, that sucks."

"Yeah."

"When you say you've had worse, is it something to do with the scar along your back?" Mike plucked up the courage to ask and Puck's head perked up in interest. Blaine always seemed so closed off, but Mike wondered if it was only because no one tried to get him to open up, and he _had_ been wondering about the scar. "I noticed it after gym period the other day and Finn keeps going on about it – sorry if I'm overstepping."

"No, it's fine. And yeah it was pretty bad when I got the scar," Blaine said. He was looking at the table and squinting slightly, but it seemed like he was willing to talk to them. Blaine exhaled heavily and continued speaking. "It was a few months ago, when I lived in Chicago and my Dad was missing. I uh, I guess you could say I got gay-bashed. I–"

"Hey, Mike, did you finish the homework?" Finn entered the room and pulled focus to himself, as usual.

"Yeah," Mike nodded then returned his attention to Blaine, who was frowning and had crossed his arms over his chest. Something was off between Blaine and Finn, but Mike couldn't tell what. Whatever their issue was, he was sure that Blaine's story was finished for now, but with a beginning like that Mike wasn't sure how long he could wait to hear the rest. It was nice that Blaine had opened up for him though, even if it was only for a few moments.

Finn struck up a conversation with Mike and Puck but Blaine didn't speak for the rest of the class. Mike kept trying to talk to Blaine for the rest of the day, but there was always someone else trying to talk to him, or Blaine was too distracted to notice him.

OoOoOoO

Blaine slept well again on Friday night. Though Kurt hadn't stayed long the night before, his scent still lingered in Blaine's bed and that was enough to calm him into a peaceful and long slumber.

When he woke he had several messages from his father which he ignored, a message, surprisingly, from Mike, and one from Kurt.

Mike: _Sorry about Finn interrupting yesterday but if you still wanted to talk I'm not doing anything this weekend and Puck's eager to listen too._

Kurt: _Coffee date today?_

Blaine thought for a moment, debating which text to reply to first. He wasn't keen on reliving his past to Mike and Puck, but he had started the story and it wouldn't be fair to them not to finish it. He replied to Mike then Kurt, asking them both to meet him at the Lima Bean.

Within 5 minutes Blaine had received two affirmative replies and decided that he should get out of bed. The house was silent around him so he assumed his mother wasn't home. He threw on some clothes and began the walk to the Lima Bean.

OoOoOoO

Kurt arrived at the coffee shop before Blaine so he ordered for himself and sat down to wait at a table near the window.

Blaine arrived not long after, seemingly half asleep but still managing to look marvellous in his light grey t-shirt, leather jacket, and a pair of dark grey skinny jeans that hugged every curve of his legs and ass. When Kurt managed to drag his eyes away from said ass, he noticed Puck and Mike following Blaine inside.

They ordered their coffees – Puck with some confusion – and joined him at the table.

"Hey," Blaine pecked Kurt's cheek in greeting. "We wanted to have a chat and you wanted to go for coffee so I thought I could combine the two."

"A chat about what?" Kurt asked, slightly confused.

"I started telling them about the Sadie Hawkins dance before Finn interrupted us yesterday and I thought I should finish the story."

"Oh," Kurt nodded. "Right."

"Sorry, Kurt, I didn't know we were crashing your date," Mike apologised.

"It's alright." Kurt knew Blaine may need his moral support to tell the story. "When did you start telling them?"

"Yesterday in biology, Mike asked about my scar but then Finn came in," Blaine explained. "How did much did I say yesterday? It seems like I can never tell this story properly in the one sitting."

"You just said you were gay-bashed in Chicago," Puck recalled.

"Right," Blaine nodded. Kurt could see him mustering up the courage to continue the story. "So I came out not long before my Dad went missing, and a few weeks later my school had a Sadie Hawkins Dance which I went to with the only other gay guy at that school. When we were waiting to get picked up," he paused to take a deep breath, "some guys came and beat us up pretty badly." Blaine exhaled deeply. "I woke up a week later in hospital with a broken arm, a few broken ribs and the scar from where they stopped my ribs puncturing my lung."

Puck and Mike were both silent for a moment, letting the story sink in. Kurt squeezed Blaine's hand in reassurance.

"Feel privileged, I don't tell that story to many people," Blaine joked half-heartedly. "But, yeah, that's that story, just another piece in the Blaine Anderson puzzle."

"That's so terrible, Blaine," Mike said sympathetically.

"Yeah, bro," Puck nodded.

Blaine shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "But I'm alright now, it's in the past and it can stay there. I just wanted to finish the story for you."

"Now you're even more badass than we thought, recovering from something like that. I may have to do something before you claim my title of McKinley's top badass," Puck joked.

"The title's all yours, man," Blaine laughed, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. "But unless you want to talk more about anything, you're crashing our coffee date."

Kurt smiled as the boys bid their farewells and left him alone with Blaine. "It never gets easier telling that story, does it?"

"Nope," Blaine shook his head, flicking his tongue ring against his teeth.

Kurt squeezed his boyfriend's hand again and tried to smile reassuringly at him. Blaine smiled feebly back at him and continued sipping at his coffee.

"Got any plans for the rest of the weekend?" Kurt asked.

"Not really, I've got a bit of homework I guess I should do and I might skype my Dad about… uh, something," Blaine answered unenthusiastically. Kurt could tell there was some angst between Blaine and his father but he didn't want to push it. "What about you?"

"Mercedes and Tina are coming over for a girl's night," he replied. "We have corny slumber parties sometimes."

Blaine was grinning, almost as if he were holding back laughter and Kurt felt glad he could make Blaine smile, if only for a little while. "That's very cute. I'd ask where my invite was but there'd be way too much oestrogen there," he smirked.

"Oh shush you," Kurt blushed, grinning.

"Nope, not going to shush. Though I guess I did used to call some sleepovers guys nights, but they usually entailed much different things than a girl's night would," Blaine smirked thoughtfully.

Kurt laughed and shook his head, enjoying the moment while it lasted.

OoOoOoO

Monday morning came around far too early for Blaine's likings. School days always past either really fast or painfully slow. Thankfully today was flying by, and the next thing he knew it was lunchtime.

He was walking down the half empty hallway when his phone vibrated in his pocket alerting him to an incoming call.

He reluctantly answered the call from his father. "What do you want?"

"_I need a favour from you. I know you'll want to say no, but it would mean a lot to me_–"

"What do you want?" Blaine repeated.

"_I'm holding a gala, and I would really appreciate it if you could come._"

"You mean it would be great publicity for the company if you looked like a family man?" Blaine asked, the accusation clear in his voice.

"_I'm not going to lie to you, Blaine._" Blaine grit his teeth – trust his father to always have an ulterior motive. "_If you come, I won't make you do anything you don't want to. We don't have to work on the suit, we got enough of that done when we skyped yesterday. Your Mom doesn't even have to come, if you come to the gala you can do whatever you want for the rest of the time you're here._"

"When is it?"

"_This weekend._"

Blaine sighed, thinking the offer over. If he went it would get him out of Lima, and his mother wouldn't be there. As much as he disliked staying in Stark Tower, it sounded like his father would be willing to give him some freedom while he was there.

"What about Cooper?" Blaine asked to give himself more thinking time.

"_I've invited him but he hasn't gotten back to me yet._"

Blaine ran a hand through his hair, thinking hard. "Fine." Blaine caved. "I'll go, but only if Kurt can come too."

"_Who's Kurt?_"

Blaine ground his teeth together in frustration at how out of touch his father really was. "He's my boyfriend. I'm not going if he can't come too."

Blaine could hear the short intake of breath from his father and waited as he deliberated. "_Alright. I'll book your flights and send you the details. Wear something nice and I'll see you this weekend._"

"Bye," Blaine hung up the call.

He had been on his way to find Kurt in the cafeteria but fortunately found him further down the hallway talking to Tina at her locker.

He forced a smile in Tina's direction before taking Kurt's hand and dragging him into a conveniently located janitor's closet.

"Blaine, what are you – why are we in the janitor's closet?" Kurt asked, feeling confused and intrigued by his boyfriend's behaviour.

"I wanted somewhere private for us to talk," he explained.

"Right," Kurt nodded, trying to hide his confusion. "To talk about what?"

"My Dad just called me," Blaine began. "He wants me to come to a gala this weekend in New York with him, apparently he's playing the family man publicity card or something."

"What did you say?" Kurt knew that Blaine had been refusing to see his father in New York since his last visit and wasn't sure why this would be any different.

"I told him I'd go," Blaine looked up and straight at Kurt, "but only if you'd come too."

"And what did he say?"

"He said alright," Blaine answered. "I know I should have actually invited you first but I really didn't want to go to one of those stupid galas by myself and you're the only person that I actually like spending time with so, yeah. Do you want to come? We could fly out after school on Friday and be home Sunday evening. It'd be a whole weekend just us in New York."

"You had me at New York," Kurt grinned. "Getting my Dad to say yes may be a little bit more difficult but I'm sure we can convince him."

"So, you want to go? My Mom's not going but my Dad'll be there – oh, you probably just want to go to meet Tony Stark again," Blaine's excitement waned when he made that assumption.

"No, I don't want to go to meet Tony Stark," Kurt said firmly. "I want to go because you want me to go – and partially because it's New York after all – but honestly the thought of me meeting your father again is slightly terrifying, especially considering our history with parents. I can barely look your Mom in the eye anymore."

"So you do want to come?"

"Yes," Kurt smiled. "You're going to have to come over and convince my Dad after school though."

"Anything to not have to go to one of these stupid things alone."

OoOoOoO

Kurt convinced Blaine to go for coffee at the Lima Bean before going to Kurt's house to talk to Burt about their prospective weekend in New York.

They were sitting at a table together when Blaine heard a mildly familiar voice call him from behind.

"Blaine?" The boy was tall with blonde hair and an impressively handsome face. "Blaine Anderson?"

Blaine turned in his seat to see who was calling to him, his mouth falling open in surprise when he saw who it was. "Jeff? What are you doing in Ohio?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," the blonde boy grinned and pulled another chair to their table. "Do you want the official reason or the real reason?"

"Both, of course," Blaine smirked.

"Well the official reason is that I've moved to focus on my studies." Blaine rolled his eyes, having heard that excuse many times.

"And the real reason?" he prompted.

"I got kicked out of school and my parents sent me to the most remote place they could think of to get me to stay out of trouble. I don't think they had accounted for me running into you though, or this fine piece of ass you've got here," Jeff's eyes drank in every detail of Kurt before he leaned back in his chair smirking.

"This 'fine piece of ass' has a name," Kurt said stiffly.

"Jeff, this is Kurt, my boyfriend," Blaine hastily made the introductions. "Kurt, this is Jeff, we went to school together when I lived in California with my Dad."

"That's not all we did together," Jeff grinned, turning to Kurt, "this guy gives _amazing_ head. Don't tell Nick but it's probably the best I've had."

Kurt paled slightly at the confidence and crudeness of Blaine's old 'friend'.

Blaine cringed slightly before his face set into a nostalgic smile. "How is Nick these days, are you two still together?"

"Love's love man, of course we are. Not exclusively of course, but we'll make the distance work."

"It doesn't seem like he'll have much competition on your end, I think Kurt and I might seriously be the only other out people in this dump," Blaine commented, slipping easily back into their old banter. "Where're you going to school now anyway?"

"Dalton Academy," Jeff answered. "They've got boarding there and apparently the curriculum's pretty strict so I'll have less chance to get into trouble."

"That's good I suppose, I don't think McKinley could handle the both of us at once," Blaine grinned.

"Do you think Kurt here could handle both of us at once?" Jeff smirked. "We had some good times with Nick, and that one time with Wes…"

"Wes asked us never to speak of it again lest his girlfriend finds out," Blaine laughed, then became more serious at the offended look on his boyfriend's face. "And lay off on Kurt, okay? Just tone it down a bit, we're not all still mega-whores."

"Alright," Jeff raised his hands in playful surrender. "And I am not a 'mega-whore' I'll have you know, I just have a very active sex life."

"Which we're all very aware you love sharing," Blaine teased. "But seriously, shut up about sex."

"Fine," Jeff whined. "You never told me what you were doing here anyway."

"Since I can't live with Dad or Coop and Mom's living here to care for my ill grandmother, I didn't really have much choice in the matter," Blaine shrugged.

"And am I allowed to ask why half your face is purple?"

"Going to school where there are homophobes when you're hung over and pissed at the world leads to bad things."

"That sucks man," Jeff said sympathetically. "And where does Kurt fit in with all of this? I'm surprised you managed to find someone this attractive in Lima."

"On my second day of McKinley Kurt was getting harassed by a couple of idiots – different ones to this time," he gestured to the bruises that were beginning to fade in his face, "– so I kind of got into a punch on with them. Same thing happened a week later and by then I'd joined glee club. We paired up for a duets competition and I fell for him, he's got a voice like an angel."

"That's very romantic and adorable," Jeff smiled. "Blaine really is the knight in shining armour."

"I guess you could say that," Blaine laughed.

Jeff pulled out his phone, swearing at the time. "I have to go to some orientation thing, but we'll have to catch up some other time. It was nice meeting you, Kurt."

"You too," Kurt said somewhat truthfully.

"Yeah, see you around," Blaine waved farewell to the blonde boy. "I'm sorry about Jeff," he apologised once the other boy was outside. "He can be pretty… open with everything."

"So I noticed," Kurt said curtly.

Blaine reached over the table and took the other boy's hand in his. "I know that wasn't a great way for you to hear it but I _was_ kind of a man-whore when I lived in LA." Kurt's eyes were trained on him to show he was listening but he didn't make any comment.

"There was a whole group of us, we banded together in the detentions at school and bonded over being the gay kids, though sometimes I think they only wanted to hang because they thought my dad was hot. Jeff and Nick were dating before I moved there but we all just sort of slept with each other," Blaine cringed at how that sounded. "You said you have your girl's nights, well we had guys nights that always sort of ended in sex." He cringed again and sighed. "We drank a lot and we had no respect for ourselves, but I've grown up since then. I really hope this won't change anything between us." He squeezed Kurt's hand and looked at him with worry and concern in his eyes.

"Well I guess if it's in the past it shouldn't matter anymore," Kurt said, still overwhelmed by all the new information. He was glad Blaine was sharing his past with him but it would still take a while for it all to sink in.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Kurt nodded, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. "But, um, I think Dad's working late at the shop tonight, maybe we should talk to him tomorrow?"

"Sure," Blaine said, studying Kurt carefully and bringing his lip ring between his teeth. "You don't have to come if you don't want to, there'll be other times we can go to New York together."

"No, I want to come," Kurt dismissed the idea. "Dad just normally works later on Mondays and he's generally more stressed when he works longer. He'd be more persuadable tomorrow night."

"Okay," Blaine nodded.

OoOoOoO

After driving Blaine home Kurt texted Mercedes and stopped by her house. The text read: "_Blaine's ex is in town. Girl time needed, I'm on my way to your house now._" Mercedes answered the door as soon as he knocked, dragging him upstairs to her room where ice cream and cookies were waiting.

"So what's this about Blaine's ex being here? I thought you said he lived in New York before he came here?" Mercedes dove straight into the questioning.

"We were having coffee in the Lima Bean when this guy – tall, gorgeous, blonde and just so hot – comes over and starts talking to Blaine. He hadn't been there 5 minutes and he'd told me all about the sex they'd had and then he practically offered to have a threesome with me and Blaine," Kurt said, sounding slightly disgusted. "He called me a 'fine piece of ass'."

"This guy sounds like trouble," she said sympathetically. "How did Blaine react to him? Like, was he happy to see him or was he really awkward about it?"

"A bit of both I suppose," Kurt tried to remember past the crudeness of Jeff, to the reactions of his boyfriend. "I think he was glad to see him but he wasn't really happy about what he told me. He apologised for Jeff's behaviour after he left and explained about how they'd met, and he said he hoped it didn't change anything between us."

"I guess if he doesn't want it to change anything between you, it shouldn't. What are you worrying about exactly?"

"I don't know," Kurt said hugging the ice-cream closer to his body. "I knew he was 'experienced' but I guess it was just weird having it shoved in my face like that."

"I think you may be over reacting just a little bit, Kurt," Mercedes said gently. "But if it's bothering you that much, just talk to Blaine about it."

"I don't want to make a big deal out of it," Kurt shook his head.

"I think it's a bit late for that," Mercedes raised an eyebrow at him. "Instead of eating all of my ice-cream maybe you should just talk to him. Don't make a big deal about it but talk to him. You say he sometimes has issues with communicating?" Kurt nodded. "Then talk to him first, take that initiative, Kurt."

Kurt sighed, "I suppose you're right."

OoOoOoO

Blaine rolled over in bed yet again that night and glanced at the clock. The illuminated red numbers showed him that any prospects of a good night's sleep were gone.

Ever since Kurt had come over after his fight with the hockey players, Blaine had been sleeping more regularly than he could remember. Something about the way Kurt became so uncomfortable meeting Jeff, however, had caused Blaine to worry himself into another sleepless night.

Giving up on any chance of sleeping, Blaine found some gym shorts and a hoodie and went out to the punching bag hanging in the back yard. Punching out his frustration always helped, and right now it was exactly what he needed.

Blaine was good at keeping things from his past a secret – he had a lot of practice hiding his father's identity and he knew what not to mention if he wanted things to stay hidden – but then Jeff came along and started telling Kurt all about his life in LA. It's not that he was ashamed of how he behaved back then, but he could have gone without his boyfriend knowing how much of a whore he used to be.

The bag swung and creaked on its hook as Blaine remembered Kurt's reactions that afternoon – the way he paled when Jeff spoke so crudely, his haste to leave the Lima Bean and the distant way he kissed Blaine goodbye in his car.

Feeling completely out of his depth, Blaine sent Jeff a text message.

Blaine: _Call me when you're awake. I need to talk to you._

Blaine wasn't used to caring about what someone thought of him or what he had done. He had spent so long living completely without caring about any consequences but now it seemed that it was starting to catch up with him.

Barely minute later he received an incoming call from a very sleepy Jeff.

"_Your text woke me up and I'm currently receiving death stares from my roommate so this better be important_," he began.

"Ooh, roommate… is he hot?" Blaine asked.

"_Yeah, but apparently he's 'not even remotely bi-curious',_" Jeff whined. "_And now he looks even madder – Hunter, go back to sleep_."

Blaine laughed at his friend before his tone dropped to a more serious level. "But seriously, I don't know what to do about Kurt."

"_That guy with you in the Lima Bean_?"

"Yes, my _boyfriend_," he said through grit teeth. "He didn't react well to meeting you today and we both know how bad I am with feelings and stuff. What am I supposed to do to fix this?"

"_Considering it's like three in the morning and you're calling me of all people, you really care about this guy_," Jeff summed up the situation.

"I do, and I really don't want to mess this up. What do I do, Jeff?"

"_You're coming to me for relationship advice? How am I supposed to know what to do?_"

"I don't know, I didn't really have a lot of options of people to call." Blaine realised how true those words were. He considered none of the New Directions his friends – except maybe Mike – and he hadn't kept in contact with any of his 'friends' from his past schools. Outside of his family he really just had Kurt, and now Jeff if he worked hard enough to retain the friendship there. "But how am I supposed to convince him that I've changed since I lived in LA? Like, there's no mistaking we were kind of sluts back then, but I held down a serious enough relationship with Sebastian after I moved to New York. I've changed but all afternoon he looked at me like I was that boy from California all over again."

"_I'm half asleep, Blaine, even if I were awake I still wouldn't know what to do. Didn't you say you met him in glee club? Why don't you sing about it, that seems to work in movies and shit,_" Jeff mumbled.

"I guess, but what would I sing?"

"_Blaaaaaaaaaine,_" Jeff whined. "_I'm tired. So your boyfriend doesn't like the dark side of your past. If he can get over who your Dad is, then why won't he be able to get over this?_"

"Maybe you're right," Blaine chewed on his lip piercing, thinking over his options.

"_Of course I'm right – ow! Fine, Hunter, I'll hang up but you know it's really rude to eavesdrop on people's phone calls, and even more rude to throw pillows at people._" Blaine laughed again. "_You're smart, Blaine, you'll figure out whatever it is you need to do to fix things with your fine piece of ass – I mean, with Kurt._"

"Thanks, man. Sorry for waking you, I hope you roommate doesn't hate you for this."

"_Hate could always lead to some hot hate-sex_," Jeff mused. "_Bye, Blaine._"

Blaine put his phone down on the outdoor table and resumed the steady pounding on the bag that aided his thoughts. He thought over his conversation with Jeff and over Kurt's behaviour that afternoon. Something about what Jeff had said about 'the dark side of his past' struck a nerve with Blaine, it was exactly what the situation was. He had plenty of darkness in his past and he didn't want to share it with anyone, he was perfectly happy to keep the past in the past, but maybe there was a song that would sum up exactly what he wanted to say to Kurt…

OoOoOoO

"Blaine, you said you had something you've been working on that you wanted to share?" Mr Schue said, inviting him to the front of the room.

"Uh, yeah," Blaine stood and faced the room nervously. "So, a guy I used to go to school with has recently moved to Ohio and it reminded me that there's a lot in my past that I'm not proud of and that if I had my way I'd keep it hidden. A lot of the time I don't get my way, which is why anyone who was in the Lima Bean last night would now know that I gave better head to my friend Jeff than his boyfriend did, and if anybody tells Wes' girlfriend about his threesome with me and Jeff I will personally rip out their tongues." A few eyebrows among the New Directions rose at that, looking curiously at this new information from the usually so guarded Blaine. "Anyway, I'm getting off the point," Blaine shook his head to clear it then looked directly at Kurt, "I'm sorry for how upfront Jeff was last night, but I really hope it won't change anything."

Blaine signalled to the band and the piano began playing the opening notes of a song vaguely familiar to Kurt.

"_Oh oh oh_," Blaine began singing softly, looking directly at Kurt with eyes full of worry. "_There's a place that I know, it's not pretty there and few have ever gone. If I show it to you now, will it make you run away?_"

Blaine looked down and ran a hand through his hair before looking back up with a sliver of hope in his eyes.

"_Or will you stay, even if it hurts, even if I try to push you out, will you return? And remind me who I really am, please remind me who I really am_."

Mike and Brittany jumped up and began dancing behind Blaine as he sung the chorus with the passion Kurt was familiar to hearing when he sang.

"_Everybody's got a dark side, do you love me? Can you love mine? Nobody's a picture perfect, but we're worth it, you know that we're worth it. Will you love me, even with my dark side?_"

Blaine always shared his emotions best through song and today was no exception, Kurt could see the pain and regret he was feeling in his big puppy-dog eyes.

"_Don't run away, don't run away, just tell me that you will stay. Promise me you will stay._"

Kurt wouldn't run away, he'd thought about it after talking to Mercedes and realised that he didn't feel any differently towards Blaine. It was a lot to take in and he wasn't overly pleased with the new information, but he could accept that it was part of Blaine's past. Blaine had grown since living in California and Kurt only cared about the Blaine he knew, not the one that he used to be.

Blaine's forehead creased and it was clear to everyone that he meant what he was singing. His voice turned almost into a cry for help as he continued singing.

"_Don't run away, don't run away, just promise me you will stay. Promise me you will stay. Will you love me? Ohh_."

The rest of the New Directions backed his vocals for the last chorus, harmonising to bring a powerful effect to the song.

"_Everybody's got a dark side, do you love me? Can you love mine? Nobody's a picture perfect, but we're worth it, you know that we're worth it. Will you love me, even with my dark side?_"

Kurt understood now that the answer to those questions was yes.

"_Don't run away, don't run away, don't run away. Promise you'll stay_."

He wouldn't run away from the new information about Blaine. Blaine looked distressed – the bags under his eyes were a dead giveaway that he hadn't slept that night – and Kurt knew he had to reassure him that nothing had changed between them.

The song was barely over before Kurt was out of his seat, cupping Blaine's face in one hand as he captured Blaine's lips in his own.

Blaine looked up in surprise at him and Kurt rested their foreheads together, completely forgetting their audience of onlookers. "I believe you that you've changed since then. I'm dating this Blaine, not the one that slept with Jeff."

"Wanky," Santana smirked.

"Alright, boys, take a seat," Mr Schue interrupted their moment and they retook their seats, hands linked.

"Come over tonight and we can ask my dad about New York this weekend," Kurt whispered.

"What time does he finish work?" Blaine whispered back.

"Probably not until after dinner."

"My place first then?"

"Sure," Kurt nodded, grinning.

OoOoOoO

"You don't have any tattoos," Kurt said unexpectedly. They were curled up on Blaine's couch watching Project Runway and snuggling under a big blanket.

"What?" Blaine turned his head to look at his boyfriend's face.

"You've got all those piercings and the rebellious attitude – and after all this stuff with Jeff I know you've got a history – but you don't have any tattoos."

"Uh, actually I do," Blaine said, one hand tracing down his side and resting beside his right hip.

"Really? How come I've never seen it?"

"Well we promised not to explore south of the equator, and it's not somewhere I generally show people." Kurt raised his eyebrows and Blaine laughed. "It's below my hip, Kurt. I've been buying underwear with higher waistbands since I got it so I don't have to worry about people seeing it."

"Can I see?"

Blaine shuffled around on the couch until Kurt could easily view the right side of his waist. He pulled the waistband of his jeans and underwear down to reveal cursive writing beginning next to his right hipbone that trailed across his groin. Beside the bone read the words '_winter is coming_'.

"It's the Stark family motto," Blaine explained. "I got it a week before Dad got back from Afghanistan. I didn't know if I'd ever see him again so I got the tattoo, then he came back a week later."

Kurt traced his fingers along the black writing and Blaine shivered slightly. "Do they know?"

"What?"

"Do you parents know you have it?"

"No," Blaine shook his head. "The only people who know are those who've seen it – Sebastian, Jeff, Nick… anyone I've slept with since I got it. And Nick's little sister, she has bad timing sometimes." He blushed and avoided Kurt's gaze.

Kurt leant forward and brushed his lips gently against the writing on Blaine's hip. "I love it," his whisper was hot and breathy.

Blaine looked up and smiled slightly at Kurt, bringing his lip ring between his teeth and chewing on it gently.

"You're really great, you know that?" Blaine asked.

"Well…" Kurt's laugh was interrupted by Blaine's lips pressing against his own. They had been doing this all afternoon, talking, kissing and watching TV alternately.

Blaine's exploration of Kurt's neck was interrupted by the other boy's stomach rumbling. They glanced at the clock and saw how late it had gotten.

"Come over for dinner," Kurt invited.

"I don't know if I–"

"We'll ask my Dad about going to New York when he gets home after dinner, he's always in a good mood after food."

Blaine shrugged, "There'll be better food there than whatever I can find here."

OoOoOoO

Blaine had never quite got the hang of family dinners but the meal with Carole, Finn and Kurt wasn't too awkward and it was nowhere near as bad as the last family dinner he'd had.

"So, Blaine, Kurt told me you moved here from New York, it must be so different here," Carole broke the awkward silence between them.

"Uh, yeah, I move around a lot so I've lived a lot of different places. It was LA before New York, and Chicago before that… it's been a big year," Blaine answered.

"All those places in the one year? Carole asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Blaine nodded. "Different custodial arrangements and a few other things." He didn't feel like discussing the details of the reasons he moved, Carole really wouldn't care and he didn't need to bring attention to the role his father played.

Kurt caught on to Blaine's awkwardness and changed the direction of the conversation slightly. "His dad still lives in New York and he invited us to visit this weekend. I was going to ask Dad when he got home."

"That's so exciting," Carole smiled.

"He's holding a gala and I told him I'd only come if Kurt could come too and he agreed," Blaine smiled slightly.

"Well that's nice." Carole seemed like one of those people that were always happy and smiling. Usually those people irritated Blaine but for some reason he didn't mind her. "And great that he's supportive of your relationship."

Blaine nodded mutely in agreement. Tony had been supportive of their relationship… once he listened to Blaine long enough to find out about it.

"New York's such an exciting city, I didn't think I'd get to go until Nationals but it's going to be so much more fun going with Blaine," Kurt grinned.

"I know plenty of great places we can go, and there are so many shops you'll be in heaven," Blaine smiled, thinking about how much fun Kurt would have if everything went according to plan.

"I've got an eye for bargains, I'll make sure to only half fill my suitcase," Kurt grinned.

When they all finished eating, Kurt and Carole cleared the table before Kurt led Blaine into his bedroom.

"What am I supposed to wear to this thing anyway?" Kurt asked, trying not to show how much he was relying on the answer.

"I guess it's formal attire, I was just going to wear a tux," Blaine shrugged.

A dreamy smile slid over Kurt's face at the thought of his boyfriend in a tuxedo. "You are going to look so good," he sighed, then pursed his lips and turned to his wardrobe. "I think I'll be able to find something appropriate."

"Or we could go shopping when we're there?" Blaine suggested. "I'm not a big fan of shopping, but I wouldn't want to waste an opportunity to spend some of Dad's money."

"That sounds pretty good," Kurt grinned. "But I think I should pack a back-up outfit too."

Blaine laughed and flopped down onto Kurt's bed, watching him sort through the neatly organised garments in his wardrobe before stopping and quirking an ear towards the door.

"Dad?" Kurt heard the footsteps that meant his father was home. He pulled Blaine along with him and made them all sit in the living room.

"Have you got something you want to tell me?" Burt was confused by Kurt's anxiousness that didn't quite cover up his excitement. "You don't make me sit like this unless you want something."

Kurt looked expectantly at Blaine, who looked startled for a moment before realising that he was expected to ask Burt because he knew the details of the weekend.

"My father's hosting a gala this weekend in New York and he's asked me to come. I generally don't enjoy these galas much so I asked if I could invite Kurt and he agreed," Blaine explained.

"Obviously I need your permission but I would really like to go, Dad," Kurt said hopefully.

"It's this weekend so we would fly out after school on Friday and be back on Sunday, Dad'll pay for everything and we can stay with him," Blaine gave all the details he thought Burt would want to know about.

"Your father will be there to meet you at the airport, and he'll be there the whole time?" Burt asked, making sure his son was properly supervised.

"Yeah," Blaine nodded.

"Well I would have liked to have met the man beforehand but I don't see why you can't go," Burt said.

Blaine chewed on his bottom lip momentarily before speaking, apparently both Kurt and Finn had kept who his father was a secret from Burt. "You've probably heard of him, he's – uh – my Dad's Tony Stark. So we'll be staying in Stark Tower."

"Right," Burt looked surprised for a moment before his regaining his composure and nodding.

"So can I go, Dad?" The excitement was audible in Kurt's voice as he asked permission from his surprisingly convincible father.

"I suppose," Burt agreed. Kurt engulfed his father in a grateful hug before dragging Blaine back to his room, babbling about finding the perfect outfit to wear.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Sorry again for how long this took to upload, the next chapter should be up within a few days but after that I don't know how long updates will take. I uploaded a prequel/sidestory/oneshot thing about how Blaine got all of his piercings and I've written some more of his backstory that will go up soon too. **

**Chapter 16**

"Hey Kurt," Finn approached him at his locker on Wednesday morning. "I didn't get a chance to see you at home but I wanted to talk to you about going to New York with Blaine this weekend."

"What about it?" Kurt asked with one eyebrow raised accusatorily.

"I just want to know that you've thought it through and you're not just going because it's New York," Finn explained. "I just want to know you'll be safe."

"Of course I have, Finn," Kurt said slightly tiredly. "I want to go to spend more time with Blaine and to meet the rest of his family, not just because it's New York. Okay?"

"Okay," he nodded. "But if you two are sharing a room while you're there, just promise me you won't do anything you don't want to?"

"I promise. Blaine's fine with waiting for me, we've discussed this," Kurt crossed his arms over his chest as a blush crept across his cheeks.

"Because after what he was saying in glee club yesterday I don't want him pressuring you–"

"Blaine's not like that. And I can take care of myself, Finn."

"I know," he nodded again.

"I have to go find Blaine, see you in glee," Kurt bade his stepbrother farewell before walking further down the corridor, seeing if Blaine was at his locker.

He wasn't at his locker but Kurt found him a little way further down the corridor, talking to Puck and Mike. Blaine spotted him, said something quietly to the other boys, and met Kurt halfway with his hands shoved into his pockets.

"Hey," Kurt smiled.

"Hey," Blaine smirked. "I was about to come and find you, are you doing anything right after school today?"

"Only planning outfits for the weekend," he answered with a grin. "But otherwise, no I've got nothing on."

"Good, Jeff wanted to apologise to you about the other day," Blaine explained. "He wants to meet at the Lima Bean so he can talk to you again without being an immature idiot."

"Good," Kurt nodded.

"He does have the capacity to talk about other things sometimes, so he wanted to prove it to you. Also I think he feels really guilty." Blaine shrugged, unfazed.

Kurt laughed slightly, "Okay. But then I'm dragging you home to help me pick clothes."

"Fine," Blaine chuckled. "I guess I deserve that torture after everything this week."

"It is not torture, it's fashion and it's interesting," Kurt scolded him.

"I'm kidding," Blaine laughed. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Good," Kurt nodded. "What were you talking about with Mike and Puck?"

"Uh, they were very interested about what I said in glee yesterday… about Jeff and Wes and what I said I did with them," Blaine said awkwardly, staring down at his feet.

"Of course they're always thinking about sex," Kurt scoffed amusedly.

"Puck almost looked like he wanted me to give him head after I said how much Jeff raves about my… uh, talents," he chuckled, still slightly nervously. Kurt only looked more amused at that and Blaine continued. "But I told him a firm no. Jeff could probably be persuaded though. I didn't know Puck swung that way, though."

"I'm pretty sure he doesn't, though he's probably not opposed to experimenting. And if it's head, I suppose for him it wouldn't matter who's mouth it is if it's good enough," Kurt surmised.

Blaine nodded in agreement before they parted, off to their first period classes.

OoOoOoO

Jeff was looking sheepish and apologetic when Kurt and Blaine met him in the Lima Bean after school that day. He was wearing his Dalton Academy uniform and was looking rather dapper. They ordered their coffees and sat down together, Blaine's hand settled over Kurt's under the table when they sat down.

"I'm really sorry about the other day, Kurt," Jeff apologised. "I think I just got a bit excited about seeing Blaine again, but after he called me at 3 in the morning asking me for advice I knew you were special to him and I realised I could have been a little crude."

"It's okay," Kurt smiled. "We talked about it and Blaine sang to me and it's all good now."

"He sang to you?" Jeff's eyebrows shot up in amusement and surprise.

"It's pretty common in our glee club," Kurt shrugged.

"You never told us you could sing, Blaine," Jeff turned to him. "I didn't think you'd actually sing to him. You didn't even join in when we serenaded you that time."

"You did a good enough job, I didn't want to mess you up – even if I could have sang through my laughter."

"You can sing?" Kurt asked the blonde boy.

"Oh yeah," he grinned. "I'm thinking of joining the Warblers – that's the glee club at Dalton. My roommate's the captain and he barely shuts up about them."

"I think we're facing you at Regionals," Kurt remembered the a cappella group.

"Even more incentive for me to join," Jeff's grin broadened.

"If you enjoy losing," Kurt smirked.

"He's a cocky one this one," Jeff laughed to Blaine. "But I suppose that's the best way. Wait – was that crude or mean? Sorry, I don't have a filter."

"It's fine," Kurt smiled.

"While we're still being crude – Jeff, I may have a friend interested in some of your talents," Blaine smirked, referring to his earlier conversation with Puck. "He looked like he wanted me to do it after I talked about how much you rave about me, but I think you'd be just as good. I think he's questioning, or just really intrigued."

"I'd tell you to tell him I don't do straight guys but I'd be lying, so if he's hot enough I'm all for it. I miss Nick and Hunter's sticking to his 'not even remotely bi-curious' label, unfortunately."

"You can't find anyone else at your all-boys private school?" Blaine asked sceptically.

"I'm working on it," Jeff waved away his enquiry.

Blaine gave him a quizzical look before looking down to finish the last of his coffee.

"I should get going, Westerville's further away than you'd think," Jeff also downed the last of his drink.

"And aren't you making me pick clothes for this weekend with you?" Blaine turned to Kurt.

"What's this weekend?" Jeff asked.

"I'm not making you, I'm requesting that you help me," Kurt rolled his eyes at his boyfriend before addressing the blonde boy, "We're going to New York for a gala that his father's holding."

"Didn't you drag Trent to one of them in California?" he attempted to remember. "And didn't he say it would have been the most boring thing ever if your Dad wasn't so hot?"

"Yes and yes," Blaine chuckled slightly, his smile never quite making it to his eyes.

"But even if the thing stinks, we get to spend the whole weekend in New York so I'm not complaining," Kurt tried to lighten Blaine's tension.

"Fair enough," Jeff nodded, standing up and slinging his bag over his shoulder. "I'll see you guys around."

"Bye," Blaine waved to him in farewell.

OoOoOoO

They went back to Kurt's house and he put on a mini fashion show for Burt and Blaine of prospective outfits for the gala, even though Blaine knew he'd end up wearing something they would buy in New York.

"Blaine, could I have your father's number?" Burt asked him while Kurt was changing outfits for the third time. "I'd just like to speak with him before Kurt stays with him. To make sure he knows you're coming and all of that usual responsible parenting stuff."

"Uh, he's been really busy lately," Blaine replied awkwardly. "But I could give you the number of his personal assistant, Pepper, and you could talk to her. She's probably more responsible than him anyway."

"Alright," Burt nodded, looking unconvinced. "I just want to know Kurt's going to be safe."

"I'll do everything I can to make sure he is," Blaine nodded.

OoOoOoO

The rest of the week passed quickly and Friday was soon upon them. Blaine was used to flying on his father's private jet but Kurt looked set to explode with his excitement during the flight.

Their flight would be arriving too late in the evening to catch a Broadway performance that night, but Blaine had made sure to book tickets to see a Wicked matinee on Saturday afternoon.

They took their bags to Stark Tower before going to the city for a late dinner. Kurt looked like a kid in a candy store, drinking in every sight and sound of the city.

After dinner they walked through Times Square before making their way back to the Tower.

Blaine couldn't be positive, but he thought he saw face that looked very familiar. Perhaps it was just paranoia from being in the same city as him, but Blaine could have sworn that he saw Sebastian smirk at him as they walked home.

He shook his head to clear it, telling himself he was imagining things, and entwined his fingers with Kurt's. Both of them were enjoying being able to show affection with each other in public without fear of unfair consequences.

Tony had been kind enough to allow the boys to share Blaine's bedroom, and after Blaine had gotten over the awkwardness of having Kurt in his old room, they were both looking forward to spending the night in each other's arms.

Blaine knew he meant well but when his father brought up the sex talk it was still horribly awkward and unnecessary. Blaine respected that Kurt wanted to take things slow. He understood that all they would be doing in his bed was cuddling and making out, and he was perfectly okay with that.

He had thought it would be easy to fall asleep with Kurt beside him, especially seeing how much his scent alone had helped before, but it seemed he was mistaken. Kurt's breath had evened out and his face was peaceful in sleep, yet Blaine still couldn't sleep. He didn't know what the cause for his restlessness was but he narrowed it down to three main possibilities.

His first cause for distress was the sighting of Sebastian after his dinner with Kurt. Kurt had been wonderfully accepting about Jeff and his life in LA, but he couldn't expect him to be unfazed by meeting another ex-boyfriend, especially if it were Sebastian. Jeff was a likeable person once you got over how crude he could be, but Sebastian was the opposite – he was manipulative, snobbish, and downright rude sometimes. Sure he knew how to suck up to authority figures, but Blaine had a feeling his ex-boyfriend would be the farthest thing from kind to his current boyfriend.

Blaine's next worry was the Gala they would be attending. He wasn't as much worrying about it as he was dreading it. He hated making small talk and he hated most of his father's non-SHIELD colleagues. Combining those two things would make this event almost unbearable if it weren't for Kurt. Kurt would keep him distracted, calm and out of trouble, but it still wouldn't be much fun.

The third and most likely cause for his sleeplessness was simply that he had become accustomed to his bed in Lima, and it was just being somewhere unusual that was making sleep impossible for him.

Any slim possibility of sleeping soon was taken from his mind when his phone lit up on his bedside table, showing an incoming call from Sebastian Smythe.

Blaine sat up, picking up the phone and slipping out of the room. He found himself sitting on the windowsill in the dim living room when he hit answer.

"Hello?"

"_Blaine!_" Sebastian's voice sounded joyful, and he could almost hear the perpetual smirk on his ex-boyfriend's face.

"What do you want?" Blaine always tried to be as direct as possible.

"_I saw someone that looked startlingly like my favourite ex-boyfriend earlier this evening and I called to see if you knew if you had any doppelgangers_."

"In other words, you saw me in the city and wanted to see if it was actually me?"

"_Got it in one_," Sebastian laughed. "_So what brings you to the city and how long are you staying?_"

"I'm here with Kurt, my boyfriend, for one of Dad's galas so we're just staying for the weekend," Blaine answered, hoping Sebastian paid attention to the first part of his answer.

"_Ah yes, I remember you mentioning him last time we met up_." Blaine started to wonder if Sebastian did anything other than smirk. "_I'm assuming you haven't been suspended again since then or else I would have seen you again._"

"You probably wouldn't have, but I haven't," Blaine confirmed his assumption. "I did get into another fight though, the usual homophobic prick kind of guys."

"_Need me to kiss your wounds better?_" Sebastian offered, lust and want clearly noticeable in his tone.

"Kurt already did a very good job at that," Blaine smiled at the memory.

"_Damn, but my offer always stands_," Sebastian reinforced.

"Seriously, Sebastian, we broke up and I'm happy to keep you as a friend but you've got to get over me," Blaine said tiredly. "I'm with Kurt now and I don't want you in that way anymore."

"_Then why are you still talking to me?_"

"I was being optimistic for once, I thought maybe you could be persuaded into friendship," he ran a hand wearily through his hair, staring out at the lights of the city.

"_Your optimism should be rewarded_," Sebastian said thoughtfully. "_And you seem determined with this new guy, maybe…_"

"Would it help if I found you someone new?" Blaine offered, thinking through the list of guys he knew were single and would be interested in Sebastian.

"_Playing matchmaker?_" Sebastian chuckled. "_I did hook up with some guy from a military school a few weeks ago, I think he moved though._"

"It wouldn't hurt you to screw the same guy more than once, maybe even get some feelings involved. But I suppose that's a stretch for you."

"_I'm hurt, Blaine,_" Sebastian said, mock offended. "_I thought we shared something special_." He was nothing if not melodramatic.

"We shared nothing but hot sex, let's face it," Blaine chuckled dryly.

"_But it was good sex_." he could the grin in Sebastian's voice.

"Yeah," Blaine smiled reminiscently. "But it's going to be so much better with Kurt, because I actually like him and–"

"_He hasn't put out yet?_" Sebastian cut him off, very amused. "_How have you been surviving?_"

"He has morals, I don't blame him," Blaine shrugged.

"_Geez, well if you ever need a fix, you know where I am_."

"You'd be the last person I'd come to, no pun intended."

Sebastian's laughter rang through the line. "_I suppose I should let you go back to your boyfriend, he might be wondering where you are._"

"He's asleep," Blaine explained. "And I can't sleep. I was just about to give up and go wandering when you called."

"_I'm glad I did then, I do miss you sometimes Blaine._"

"Would you be offended if I told you I didn't?" he sighed, leaning back into the edge of the windowsill. "Someday you'll find someone who means as much to you as Kurt means to me, then you'll forget all about me and I'll finally have you out of my hair."

"_Well that military guy was a _really_ good fuck,_"Sebastian said thoughtfully. "_I might go call him. Bye Blaine._"

"Goodbye Sebastian," Blaine said, hanging up the phone and hoping it would be the last he'd hear from his ex for a while.

"Can't sleep?" Tony asked, startling Blaine and making him almost lose his balance.

"I very rarely can."

"Who was that?" Tony pointed to the phone in Blaine's hand.

"Sebastian," Blaine sighed exasperatedly.

"You've got one boy in your bed and one on the phone – I'm not even going to ask," Tony shook his head. "Go back to bed, Blainers."

"Eventually," he shrugged.

"Goodnight, Blaine," Tony said, clapping him on the back.

"Night, Dad," Blaine replied quietly.

Blaine sat on the windowsill for a while, staring out at the lights of the city and thinking. He thought about how much he was falling for Kurt. He thought about how had never felt that way about anyone before. He thought about his relationship with Sebastian and how much he was glad it was over. He thought about the impending gala and how he knew he would have to work to keep his temper and patience in check. He thought about his father and the suit they were secretly working on, and about the possibility of running into some SHIELD agents over the course of the weekend. But most of all, he thought about the boy asleep in his bed.

Blaine stood in the doorway of his bedroom for a moment, watching his boyfriend sleeping so peacefully. He chuckled quietly to himself, remembering how the roles had been reversed the week before. He crept over to his bed and slipped inside, careful not to wake Kurt.

He slipped an arm around Kurt's sleeping form and smiled as his boyfriend nuzzled into his neck.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: The two songs in this chapter are Can't Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli (/watch?v=NGFToiLtXro) and Dance The Way I Feel by Ou Est Le Swimming Pool (/watch?v=c_M3Txktt8w). Updates may take a while from here but I promise I haven't given up on this story. I've put up another one-shot of Blaine's backstory if you wanted to check it out, it's called Losing It.**

**Chapter 17 **

"_It is 8:30am and this is your wake up call, sir._"

Blaine felt Kurt sit bolt upright beside him. "What was that?" he asked with equal parts panic, confusion and curiosity in his voice.

"It's JARVIS, ignore him," Blaine mumbled, one cheek mushed against the pillow.

"JARVIS?" Kurt was still confused.

Blaine reached a hand up blindly to pull Kurt back down beside him. "Shh come back to sleep."

"Blaine…"

"Mmm?"

"Wake up, it's morning," Kurt shook his shoulder gently.

"No," Blaine said resolutely.

"He's not a morning person, it's a miracle he ever gets to school on time," Pepper said from the doorway.

"'He' is right here," Blaine grumbled.

"Oh he is alive," Pepper laughed, then introduced herself to Kurt after seeing his confused expression. "Pepper Potts, I'm Tony's assistant. You must be Kurt."

"Yeah," he nodded.

"It's nice to meet you," she smiled.

"You too."

"There's breakfast down in the kitchen if you can drag him out of bed," she eyed Blaine's stubborn form. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Kurt laughed before leaning his face close to Blaine's neck and pressing a gentle kiss to the skin.

"Mmm," Blaine smiled and mumbled happily at the contact. Kurt pressed his lips to the skin again and again, trailing across his neck, up his jaw and into the corner of his lips. "Mmm, Kurt."

"Get up and you get more kisses," Kurt teased.

"You're mean," Blaine pouted.

"I'm in New York for the first time in my life and you won't get out of bed, how am I the mean one?"

"Fine." He rolled over and looked up at Kurt, stretching.

"Morning sunshine," Kurt grinned. "What are we doing today?"

"We have Wicked matinee tickets but before that shopping, if you want. Whatever you want to do, we can do."

"The possibilities are endless," he smiled dreamily. "If only you'd get out of bed…"

"I'm getting up, it's a long process. You could go eat if you want, I'll be there soon." Kurt chewed on his bottom lip silently, looking almost guilty. "You don't want to go out there without me?"

"I'll get lost, this place is huge," Kurt blushed, frowning slightly. Blaine laughed, sitting up. "And what was that that woke us up?"

"It was JARVIS, a computer system. He pretty much runs everything around here," Blaine explained. Kurt still looked slightly confused so Blaine smiled and took his hand, "Find me some clothes and let's go get breakfast."

Ten minutes and three outfits later – the boys had very different ideas about what Blaine should wear – they made their way down to the kitchen for breakfast and to plan their day ahead.

Tony entered the room not long after, picking at the berries and fruit on the table. "Morning boys," he greeted them.

Blaine grunted in reply, sipping on coffee to wake him up, but Kurt gave a more nervous and cheerful reply, "Good morning, Mr Stark."

"Please, Mr Stark was my father, call me Tony." Kurt nodded. "Now Blaine, I know I promised we wouldn't work on–"

"No," Blaine cut him off, shaking his head with his jaw tensed.

"But there's not much left to go, you haven't even seen how much progress I've made," Tony argued.

"No. You promised that if I came we wouldn't–"

"Did you know you can pee in it?" Tony asked. "The filtration system lets you pee in it when you're wearing it."

"I don't even want to know," Kurt shook his head, thoroughly confused.

Blaine glared at his father, silently willing him to shut up.

"Will you come back soon to work on it?"

"If I say yes will you shut up?"

"I'm counting this as a victory," Tony smirked, disappearing off upstairs.

"He… uh, he told me that if I came to this gala thing that we wouldn't have to work on… that thing that we've been working on," Blaine tried to address his boyfriend's confusion at that conversation but didn't know how to without revealing what he was working on. "And I know that must have been really weird and confusing but I can't tell you what it is. As much as I'd like to, unfortunately it's top secret."

"It's okay," Kurt said. "I know you've got your secrets."

"Secrets suck," Blaine rested his chin in his hands, pouting slightly.

"Cheer up, we've got the whole day to go shopping and see a Broadway show in New York," Kurt couldn't contain his smile.

"Two days really isn't enough to see everything's New York's got, we'll have to come back another time for a longer stay."

"That sounds like a marvellous idea," Kurt grinned. "Just try and keep me away."

OoOoOoO

Tony cornered Blaine while Kurt was in the shower and he got a chance to speak to him alone for the first time since his arrival.

"I understand that you don't want to work on the suit this weekend, especially with Kurt here, but I really want you to come back soon to work on it. It's not that far from being finished and I know you're going to love wearing it."

Blaine sighed as he thought it over. "I guess I can try to find a time to come back. I don't know when but I suppose I can try." The he added as an afterthought, "I want something for doing this though."

"Getting your own Iron Man suit isn't enough?" Tony looked confusedly at his son.

"I want a car," Blaine said. "And I know you could just buy me one, but I want to have earned it."

"If it'll get you to work on this with me, sure," Tony shrugged.

"What are you going to do with it when it's done?" Blaine asked. "Are we telling SHIELD?"

"Probably not for a while," Tony answered. "I assume they'll find out eventually but we'll deal with that when it happens."

"Alright," Blaine sighed.

"It means a lot to me, Blaine," Tony said, serious for once. "I know we don't get to spend a lot of time together anymore but I'm glad you've been willing to work on this with me."

"Me too," Blaine agreed.

OoOoOoO

"I'm not wearing that, Kurt," Blaine stared in disgust at the outfit Kurt was holding out for him.

"Come on, just try it on," he pleaded. This was the third shop they had been to and Blaine was yet to even try anything on.

"No," he shook his head. "Find something else."

OoOoOoO

"Blaine, I can't let you buy all of this for me," Kurt protested, his arms full of garment bags.

"I insist, you're going to look amazing tonight," Blaine maintained.

OoOoOoO

"How did you like your first Broadway show?"

"I have no words for the awesomeness that was seeing Wicked on Broadway," Kurt answered. He hadn't stopped smiling since the show had let out and Blaine was starting to wonder how much his cheek muscles must be hurting.

"I'm sorry to ruin the day by dragging you to the Gala tonight, then," Blaine said glumly.

"I get to wear my new outfit and you'll be there, how is tonight going to be bad?"

"They just usually aren't much fun," Blaine shrugged. "But maybe if you're there with this fantastic mood it won't be so bad."

OoOoOoO

"Ugh, I hate wearing suits," Blaine grumbled, emerging from the bathroom into his bedroom to show his waiting boyfriend.

"You look fantastic. Very dapper," Kurt smiled, rushing over to straighten his bowtie. Blaine was wearing a classic tuxedo, and looking very good in it in Kurt's opinion. "No chance of taking these out?" Kurt fiddled with his earrings.

Blaine shook his head. "Even if I wasn't worried they'd close over, they're something to distinguish me from the crowd of boring gala-goers."

"Hmm, I suppose," Kurt nodded.

"No one's even going to notice me when I'm standing next to you. You look amazing," Blaine smiled. "I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up in the 'Best Dressed' section of some fashion magazine."

"There'll be paparazzi there?"

"Just outside, once we're inside there shouldn't be any." Kurt looked nervous at the idea of strangers wanting his photo. "Just stick with me and smile, they'll love you."

"Okay," he nodded, mustering his courage. "And I suppose it would be a waste if this outfit wasn't shared with thousands of people."

Blaine laughed, taking Kurt's hand as they walked into the living room. Pepper was waiting for them, wearing a purple dress that gathered at one shoulder.

"Any chance of taking out some piercings, Blaine?" she asked as she surveyed their appearances.

"Nope," he said defiantly.

"Just the eyebrow, or the lip?" she attempted to bargain.

"No, I'm not taking any of them out."

"I already tried convincing him," Kurt shrugged.

Pepper sighed in defeat. Something told Kurt they had that conversation at every event they dressed up for. "At least you did something decent with you hair, it looks good."

"Thanks."

"It would look better if I weren't distracted by the eyebrow ring…"

"It's not coming out."

"What if Kurt and I pinned you down and took it out?" she said with a sly grin. "It's a long enough limo ride…"

"As much as I'd love Kurt pinning me down, having you involved just makes it weird," Blaine smirked back.

"Just get in the limo," she said, barely containing laughter.

"You're coming with us?" Blaine asked in the elevator ride down to the ground floor.

"I am, I promised Burt I would make sure Kurt was safe during his stay."

"You spoke to my father?" Kurt asked.

"I gave him her number when he asked me the other day," Blaine explained. "He wanted to talk to my Dad but I told him Pepper was more responsible."

"He's not wrong there," she nodded, smiling.

OoOoOoO

They made it inside without getting harassed too badly by the paparazzi. Kurt enjoyed having his photo taken and Blaine had no problems with showing him off. Once inside they mainly kept to themselves, very few people acknowledged them and those who did usually just gave a tight, formal greeting before moving on to someone more interesting or important.

Kurt thought he saw a familiar faces in the crowds, but he couldn't place where he'd seen any of them before.

"Blaine, hi," an attractive red-haired woman greeted Blaine, looking relieved. "I'm glad I found someone here to talk to that won't keep going on about stocks and projected incomes and I am so tired of pretending that I care."

Blaine chuckled, the first sign of any joy for the evening. "I know exactly what you mean. I don't know what I'd be doing without Kurt here to keep me entertained."

The woman looked over to Kurt, the corners of her mouth twitching up slightly at the sight of his hand linked with Blaine's. "I don't believe we've met," she looked to Blaine for an explanation.

"Sorry – Natasha, this is Kurt, my boyfriend," Blaine introduced. "Kurt, this is Natasha Romanov, she used to work for Tony and she works for SHIELD."

Kurt thought the name sounded vaguely familiar to him as he smiled and shook her hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Kurt," she said. "Cooper told me he thought Blaine had found someone in Lima and I've been waiting to see if he was right."

"I need to speak to my brother it seems," Blaine said crabbily, though he ruined the effect by blushing.

"I'm still yet to meet him and I haven't heard much about him," Kurt stated. "He's got an air of mystery to me at the moment."

"I'm postponing your meeting for as long as I can," Blaine said, somewhat grumpily. "He's the most embarrassing human being I've met. He doesn't have a filter for what things are appropriate to say."

"He sounds fun," Kurt laughed and Blaine continued pouting. "Oh come on, he's all the way in LA, I won't get to meet him any time soon," he added at the gloomy pout on his boyfriend's face.

"Stop it," Blaine said to Natasha.

"Stop what?" she asked.

"Sizing Kurt up. You're seeing if he's potentially dangerous or a potential recruit."

"How did you–"

"You're not as subtle as you think to the observant eye," Blaine shrugged.

Natasha raised an impressed eyebrow. "Have you been considering what we discussed the last time we spoke?"

"It's been on my mind from time to time," Blaine answered casually.

"Good," she nodded. "I should go find Clint, I think he headed upstairs to find a vantage point in case of an emergency. It was nice meeting you Kurt, and I hope you do consider what we talked about, Blaine."

"It was good seeing you again, Natasha," Blaine said in farewell.

"Why did she seem familiar?" Kurt asked.

"She's the Black Widow," Blaine explained, "so she's part of the Avengers Initiative."

"I think Finn has a poster of her in his room," Kurt nodded. Blaine rolled his eyes as the orchestral band started up the next song. "Come dance with me."

Blaine stared uncertainly at Kurt's offered hand. "I don't really dance," he said disinterestedly.

"Come on, please," Kurt looked at Blaine with big doe eyes, hoping to guilt his boyfriend onto the dance floor.

_You're just too good to be true_

_Can't take my eyes off of you_

_You'd be like heaven to touch_

_I wanna hold you so much_

_At long last love has arrived_

_And I thank God I'm alive_

_You're just too good to be true_

_Can't take my eyes off of you_

"Well it is a fitting song," Blaine caved, smirking slightly. "I haven't been able to keep my eyes off you all night."

Kurt blushed slightly and lead Blaine to the centre of the ballroom where there were many couples dancing to the band.

_Pardon the way that I stare_

_There's nothing else to compare_

_The sight of you leaves me weak_

_There are no words left to speak_

_But if you feel like I feel_

_Please let me know that it's real_

_You're just too good to be true_

_Can't take my eyes off of you_

The height difference between the boys meant that Blaine's head rested nicely on Kurt's shoulder as they danced slowly, bodies pressed gently together and hands clasped comfortingly.

Blaine found himself unable to keep the small smile off his face as they swayed to the music. Surrounded by people he couldn't stand, being so close to Kurt like that made the night alright.

Blaine twirled Kurt with one arm as the trumpets took their solo and the song sped up, Kurt letting out a surprised laugh.

_I love you baby, and if it's quite all right_

_I need you baby to warm a lonely night_

_I love you baby_

_Trust in me when I say_

_Oh pretty baby, don't bring me down, I pray_

_Oh pretty baby, now that I found you, stay_

_And let me love you, baby let me love you…_

Back in in Kurt's arms, Blaine began to sing along quietly into Kurt's ear, just loud enough for him to hear.

"_You're just too good to be true_

_Can't take my eyes off of you_

_You'd be like heaven to touch_

_I wanna hold you so much._"

Kurt sang back to him, still just quiet enough for the two of them to hear.

"_At long last love has arrived_

_And I thank God I'm alive._"

They sang the last lines together, both smiling as they shared the moment.

"_You're just too good to be true_

_Can't take my eyes off of you._"

Kurt lead Blaine in some faster dance steps during the trumpet solo, Blaine surprised himself with how easily he kept up.

Blaine brought his head closer to Kurt's ear again to sing the final section of the song with surprising passion in his quiet tone.

"_I love you baby, and if it's quite all right_

_I need you baby to warm a lonely night._"

Kurt joined him to finish the song and Blaine couldn't ignore how beautiful Kurt's voice sounded singing the classic.

"_I love you baby_

_Trust in me when I say_

_Oh pretty baby, don't bring me down, I pray_

_Oh pretty baby, now that I found you, stay_

_Oh pretty baby, trust in me when I say…_"

The band trailed off into the next song but the boys on the dance floor didn't notice, all they saw was each other. They had forgotten about the people around them when they brushed their lips together in a short gentle kiss, breathing each other in.

Kurt came to his senses first, blushing and stepping away from Blaine slightly. Blaine looked up at him with something between a grin and smirk on his face.

"Maybe I'm not as bad a dancer as I thought," Blaine acknowledged. "But having a good partner definitely helped."

Kurt blushed deeper and began leading Blaine away from the people dancing, closer to the tables near the edges of the room.

Blaine walked behind Kurt and when he could drag his eyes away from the way his pants sat so well around Kurt's ass, he spotted the brown haired boy wearing a marvellously tailored tuxedo that was unmistakably Sebastian Smythe.

Blaine's face fell and he hissed under his breath. He hadn't been expecting him to be here.

"Come with me somewhere quieter for a minute?" Blaine tightened his grip on Kurt's hand and dragged him out to a deserted corridor.

"What's wrong?" Kurt asked concernedly.

"You know how you were really great and understanding about everything with Jeff?" Kurt nodded warily. "I just wanted to give you some warning, another of my ex's is here." Blaine paused, surveying Kurt's reaction. "His name's Sebastian, we dated for a while when I lived here."

"Okay," Kurt nodded. "Point him out to me when we go back."

"You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," Kurt smiled. "I'm proud of you for staying here with all of these snobby people."

"It's not that hard to stay when you're here," Blaine grinned, leaning closer to his boyfriend.

"Is that so?" Kurt smirked, licking his lips teasingly. Blaine chuckled and closed the distance between them, capturing Kurt's lips in a gentle kiss. "Someone's going to notice we're gone," Kurt said, resisting the strong urge to stay here kissing Blaine for the rest of the night. "And I thought we were going to spend some fun quality time with another of your ex's?"

"Time with Sebastian won't be much fun, he can be pretty scathing when he wants to be," Blaine sighed.

"Well let's find out then, shall we?" Kurt's attitude was far more positive than Blaine expected. He wasn't sure whether this was a good or a bad thing yet.

Kurt led the way back to the ballroom, dragging Blaine behind him by the hand. "Which one is he?" Kurt looked around the room, sussing out who he may be.

"He's talking to the woman in the very green dress with the really big hat. Kind of looks like a chipmunk but has a great ass – I mean, uh…" Blaine blushed slightly, pointing to someone a few tables down from where they were standing.

"It looks like he uses almost as much product in his hair as I do," Kurt surveyed the boy.

Blaine chuckled nervously in reply, flicking his tongue ring against his teeth.

"Come on, either introduce me or do something to distract yourself, you're getting really worked up over this," Kurt took Blaine's hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you about him," Blaine lead Kurt over to Sebastian.

"Hey Blaine," Sebastian smiled suspiciously friendlily at him. "And I'm assuming this is Kurt? Sebastian Smythe." He offered a hand to Kurt.

Kurt shook it, "Kurt Hummel."

"So what are you doing here, Sebastian? I didn't think you would be coming," Blaine said, slightly accusatorily.

"Well a Stark gala is one not to be missed," he said, his usual smirk starting to fall into place. "And when I heard you would be here I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to meet Kurt."

"Of course," Blaine nodded, not entirely convinced. He decided a change in conversation was needed. "Did you get onto that military school guy you were telling me about? You seemed pretty into him."

"I haven't yet, still keeping my options open," he replied. Blaine looked at him quizzically before Pepper appeared and got his attention.

"Blaine, can I speak to you for moment?" she sounded stressed. "It's about that project you and your dad are working on."

"He told you?" Blaine asked incredulously.

"You really think he could keep something like that from me?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Fine," Blaine sighed, then turned to the other boys. "I'll be back soon, try to get along."

Pepper whisked Blaine away and Kurt was left alone with Sebastian. "So, you and Blaine keep in contact, even with the distance?"

"Oh yeah," Sebastian nodded, still with his trademark smirk in place. "We were talking last night actually, when you were asleep." Kurt raised a curious eyebrow. "You came up, of course, and I can't believe you haven't put out yet. I don't know what you're waiting for, Blaine is amazing in bed."

"He talked about that with you?" Kurt asked, scandalized.

"Absolutely," Sebastian nodded. "And if you don't believe me about how good he is, I'm sure you could ask someone else in his long line of ex's."

"I'm already aware," he said curtly.

"I would have thought it was amazing sex that was keeping you together, but if that's not it I don't know what he sees in you."

"What do you mean?" Kurt crossed him arms across his chest defensively.

"Well, you're frigid, you've got a serious case of the gay face, and you're basically just a Lima loser."

"As opposed to looking like a chipmunk with CW hair?"

"At least Blaine's slept with me," Sebastian shrugged. "Face it, Kurt – you're not good enough for him."

"Then why did he invite me to come here with him?" Kurt argued.

"Because these things are boring as all hell," Sebastian chuckled dryly. "I only came to see Blaine and to meet you. And I must say, you didn't quite meet my expectations."

"Why should I care what you think of me? Blaine dumped you."

"Only because he was moving, if he still lived here we'd still be the greatest of fuck buddies." Sebastian knew that wasn't quite true, but a little white lie never couldn't hurt.

Kurt took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. Sebastian wasn't worth getting so worked up over.

"Blaine deserves someone like himself, you're just too different, Kurt," Sebastian said, sounding almost sympathetic.

"Blaine deserves to choose who he wants to date," Kurt debated. "And he chose me. Get that through your over-styled little head."

"You have a point," he nodded. "I'll just have to make him change his mind."

Blaine reappeared shortly after and the other boys stopped glaring at each other, instead forcing smiles at Blaine.

"I swear I'm the father in this family," Blaine said, shaking his head tiredly. "I don't know what he'd do without Pepper."

"Be forced to take responsibility of himself for once?" Sebastian offered.

"Exactly," Blaine sighed, taking Kurt's hand. "Come on, let's just go listen to the stupid speeches or whatever."

Kurt seemed subdued as they watched the presentations, even after Sebastian disappeared to find his parents.

Blaine tuned out whatever his father and his colleagues were talking about, instead focusing all of his attention on Kurt. He frowned as he observed Kurt's troubled expression, the way his eyebrows were creased slightly and his bottom lip was sticking out further than usual.

Kurt didn't seem to have as much experience in hiding how he was feeling as Blaine did, which was why Blaine could read almost every emotion that passed his boyfriend's face. But even though he could read the emotion, he still didn't know why Kurt was upset. Blaine's suspicions pointed towards Sebastian – he knew it was a bad idea to leave them alone together but the situation with his father couldn't be ignored.

Kurt remained quiet for the rest of the evening. He had seemed cheerful earlier in the night and after their dance he was definitely in a happy state, but there was definitely a drastic change in his mood now. The only explanation was that Sebastian had said something to get into Kurt's head and upset him, but Blaine was struggling to see why he would. He had repeatedly told Sebastian that he was in no way interested in getting back with him, but perhaps it just hadn't sunk in yet.

Whatever the reason, Blaine didn't like that Kurt was upset and he assumed this was what caring about someone felt like. He didn't know what to do to make Kurt feel better, he knew if he tried talking to him one or both of them would end up saying the wrong thing and it would end in disaster. He also knew that even if they wanted to talk, they wouldn't be able to until they got back to the tower.

So Blaine remained concerned, still debating whether or not to talk to his boyfriend about whatever was troubling him, and they both faked their smiles for the rest of the evening.

OoOoOoO

"I'm so glad that's over," Blaine groaned as they returned to his room at the end of the night.

"It wasn't _that_ bad," Kurt tried to reason. Blaine quirked an eyebrow and Kurt caved. "Okay, yeah it wasn't great."

Blaine scrubbed his hands through his hair, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I think I'm going to go downstairs to the gym and do some boxing. Better I go now than wake you going later."

"Can I– can I come too? I don't think I'd be able to sleep either," Kurt asked slightly nervously.

"Uh, sure," Blaine nodded. "Just give me a minute to change."

Kurt nodded and Blaine disappeared into the bathroom, emerging a few moments later in a hoodie and gym shorts, Kurt had also changed into more comfortable clothes.

"It's down a couple of floors," Blaine said, breaking the awkward silence on the walk to the elevator. He wasn't sure why the awkwardness had returned but Blaine thought it must have been to do with the way that something had been off about Kurt since the gala.

They emerged from the elevator into an enormous room filled with various kinds of gym equipment, including several punching bags to one side and a full-size boxing ring in the centre of the room.

Blaine walked over to the touch screen panel by door and after pressing a few buttons, music started playing.

"You just wanted to watch?" Blaine asked slightly confusedly.

"Yeah," Kurt nodded. "And just… think."

"Okay," Blaine said, strapping on his gloves and walking over to the punching bag.

Blaine looked good at boxing from what Kurt could tell. He hit the bag hard and consistently, his face full of rage finally being let out. Blaine's choice of music was interesting – from Katy Perry and Pink to Neon Trees and Maroon 5 to the Broadway soundtrack of Grease, among many others – he definitely had a wide variety of tastes. Some songs seemed to hold more meaning than others, he hit the bag harder during the AC/DC songs, the song he auditioned for glee with, and one called Losing It by Never Shout Never, but he was smiling slightly when Five Colours In Her Hair by McFly came on.

It was almost hypnotic watching Blaine and it gave Kurt plenty of time to think over his conversation with Sebastian. Although Kurt could refute each of Sebastian's points, there was still some niggling doubt in the back of his mind. Each time he became unsettled by Sebastian's words, he reminded himself that Blaine had invited him to New York. Blaine was his boyfriend and he shouldn't be worrying about a jealous ex. He was getting better at not letting words get to him after being bullied so much, but there was no mistaking that words could sting.

After a while, Blaine stopped, unstrapped his gloves and walked over to Kurt. "Come here," he offered Kurt a hand.

"What?"

"Come here, I'll teach you," Blaine smiled slightly, wiping sweat off his forehead with the hand not offered to his boyfriend. "You seem kind of worried about something, it'll help."

"Alright," Kurt timidly took Blaine's hand, nodding and smiling slightly.

"Put these on and get in the ring," Blaine gave Kurt his gloves before fetching hand pads for himself.

The next song in the playlist started as Blaine stepped into the ring and started giving Kurt instructions and pointers.

_We're wasting so many truths that we depend_

_On getting by, another lie_

_On every other thing that dies_

_And as his voice beckons out I hear the end_

_The end of trauma slowly setting in_

_My body seems to stop and freeze_

Kurt wasn't bad at boxing, he hit the pads the way Blaine told him to and he found that it did help to punch out his worries.

_Stop_

_Well I just dance the way I feel_

_Stop breathin'_

_Imagine none of this is real_

He couldn't pretend what Sebastian had said didn't upset him but he didn't want Blaine to think he was weak or couldn't hold his own.

_Stop_

_Well I just dance the way I feel_

_Stop breathin'_

_Imagine none of this is real_

Kurt had avoided telling Blaine about the worst of his bullying as none of it had been as bad as what Blaine had endured. Blaine had witnessed first-hand the some of the physical bullying, but there was more than just that. They constantly called him names…

_Well I just dance the way I feel_

…shoved him against lockers…

_Well I just dance the way I feel_

…threw him into dumpsters…

_Well I just dance the way I feel_

…and slushied him, but it was never bad enough to leave a mark or get them in trouble. It still hurt and Sebastian's behaviour seemed to throw salt into the wounds.

_A simple crowd makes a movement on my space_

_I'm lashing out, I'm crashing down_

_On all the people in my way_

_I'm batting all of these objects from this place_

_This place is ruined, been affected_

_After all the time I've paid_

Blaine saw the worry in his boyfriend's eyes as he boxed surprisingly well. His internal debate continued on whether to delve into Kurt's problems or whether to leave it alone.

_Stop_

_Well I just dance the way I feel_

_Stop breathin'_

_Imagine none of this is real_

Kurt was punching ferociously, the same way Blaine had when he first took it up. There was obviously something bothering him, but Blaine didn't want to intrude.

_Stop_

_Well I just dance the way I feel_

_Stop breathin'_

_Imagine none of this is real_

Sebastian's words were well chosen to highlight all of Kurt's major flaws. He knew exactly what to say to get to Kurt, highlighting his weaknesses and insecurities.

_Well I just dance the way I feel_

"_Well, you're frigid…_"

_Stop_

_Well I just dance the way I feel_

"…_you've got a serious case of the gay face_…"

_Stop_

_Well I just dance the way I feel_

"… _and you're basically just a Lima loser_…"

Kurt swung at the pad so hard it nearly came off Blaine's hand.

"Kurt?" Blaine said gently. "Are you okay?" Kurt nodded, blinking away the angry tears that were threatening to spill over. "No you're not, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, just stupid words," Kurt mumbled.

_Moving on to someone else_

_You're always open with yourself_

_And no one_

_I talk to no one_

"Kurt, look at me." He met his boyfriend's concerned gaze. "Please, tell me what's wrong. I don't like seeing you like this and I'm way out of my depth here."

_Always falling short of help_

_I choose to take this by myself_

_And go_

_And I just go_

"I'm fine," Kurt lied, taking a deep breath. "Something Sebastian said just–"

"Of course it was Sebastian; I knew something like this would happen if you met him." Blaine clenched his jaw in controlled rage. "What did he say? Do I need to go beat him up, I'm this close–"

"No, don't," Kurt put a gloved hand on Blaine's arm to calm him down. "He just said a few… unkind things and it brought back a few memories."

_Stop_

_Well I just dance the way I feel_

_Stop breathing_

_Imagine none of this real_

"Sebastian's known for saying unkind things, I should have dumped him sooner," Blaine said bitterly.

"Wait – you didn't just break up because you moved?"

"No, I dumped his sorry ass before I knew I was leaving. What did he tell you, Kurt?"

_Stop_

_Well I just dance the way I feel_

"He said I wasn't good enough for you, that you deserved someone more like you, that I was frigid – things along that line," Kurt tried to say it casually but there was no mistaking how hurt he was.

"You know that's not true, I'm starting to think you're the best thing to happen to me, Kurt," Blaine smiled slightly. "If anything, I don't deserve you. And you know that I'm fine with waiting until you're ready, right? That's why they invented masturbation."

Kurt laughed slightly before raising his gloves to attempt to drown out the memories threatening to overcome him. Blaine raised the pads and they resumed the boxing.

_Stop breathing_

_Imagine none of this is real  
Well I just dance the way I feel_

"You said that what he said brought back memories," Blaine said, dropping his hands to speak. "What did you mean – you said that your bullying wasn't that bad other than what I've seen."

"You saw the worst of the physical stuff," Kurt avoided looking at Blaine as he spoke quietly. "But before you came, back before glee got like it is now, it was worse in different ways. Endless taunting, more slushies, dumpster tosses, it wasn't great."

_Stop_

_Well I just dance the way I feel_

"Do you want me to beat them up for you?" Blaine asked gently for lack of anything better to say.

_Stop_

_Well I just dance the way I feel_

"No, most of them have stopped," Kurt shook his head. "Sebastian just brought back some memories."

_Well I just dance the way I feel _

"I'm going to have to talk to him it seems," Blaine said grimly before taking off the pads and opening his arms. "C'mere." Kurt let himself relax into Blaine's arms, Blaine squeezed him tightly, trying to reassure his boyfriend in the best way he knew how.

_Well I just dance the way I feel _

"Thanks, Blaine," Kurt said, his face pressed against the shorter boy's shoulder.

_Well I just dance the way I feel _

"For what?"

_Well I just dance the way I feel _

"For being here for me, and for teaching me to box."

_Well I just dance the way I feel _

"Any time, Kurt, I mean it."

_Well I just dance the way I feel _

Both of them stood, enclosed in each other's arms, neither of them saying what both of them were starting to feel.

_Well I just dance the way I feel _

Those three little words were in both of their minds, but both boys had their own reasons for not voicing them aloud.

_Well I just dance the way I feel_


End file.
